{"id":18420,"date":"2021-04-13T06:49:46","date_gmt":"2021-04-13T10:49:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=18420"},"modified":"2021-04-13T06:49:46","modified_gmt":"2021-04-13T10:49:46","slug":"german-far-right-group-on-trial-for-terror-plot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2021\/04\/13\/german-far-right-group-on-trial-for-terror-plot\/","title":{"rendered":"German far-right group on trial for &#8216;terror plot&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p><b class=\"ssrcss-14iz86j-BoldText e5tfeyi0\">The trial of 11 suspected members of a far-right &#8220;terror&#8221; group has begun in the German city of Stuttgart.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>The suspects, aged between 32 and 61, were arrested in February last year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Prosecutors say the 11 men &#8211; all Germans &#8211; were members of Gruppe S (Group S), which planned attacks on migrants, Muslims and politicians, with the aim of sparking a civil war.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>A twelfth man, a former police officer, is accused of offering material support to the group. He is also on trial.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>One of the group is still at large and is being tried in absentia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"unordered-list-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-1pzprxn-BulletListContainer e5tfeyi3\">\n<ul role=\"list\">\n<li><a class=\"ssrcss-hiczm3-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-europe-48716944\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">German politician&#8217;s murder raises spectre of far-right attacks<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"ssrcss-hiczm3-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-europe-51571177\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Has Germany done enough to tackle far-right violence?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-mysbf6-ComponentWrapper-CrossheadComponentWrapper e1xue1i84\" data-component=\"crosshead-block\">\n<h2 class=\"ssrcss-qozapo-StyledHeading e1fj1fc10\">What are the men accused of?<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>The men in Gruppe S intended to &#8220;shake and ultimately topple the state and social order&#8221; in Germany, the indictment says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Werner S, the group&#8217;s alleged ringleader, organised an initial meeting in September 2019. Over the next few months others joined and kept in touch by phone and internet chat.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>According to investigation files seen by German public broadcaster ZDF and the Stuttgarter Nachrichten newspaper, Werner S planned to acquire a Kalashnikov assault rifle with 2,000 rounds of ammunition, an Uzi submachine gun and hand grenades. The group already had 27 unlicensed weapons, mostly pistols, it is alleged.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>&#8220;If the accused had been able to carry out their planned acts of terror, we would have had a totally brutal and massive killing machine running here,&#8221; said Ralf Michelfelder, chief criminal investigator for the state of Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg, ahead of the trial.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>German media report that the authorities were alerted to the group&#8217;s activities in autumn 2019 by an informant, who is now the chief witness, under close police protection. In February 2020 police arrested 13 men from five German states. One later died in pre-trial detention.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Most of the group&#8217;s members also belonged to other far-right groups, including the Bruderschaft Deutschland (German Brotherhood), German broadcaster ARD reports.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Thorsten W, who is accused of supporting the group, worked for the police in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and allegedly offered \u20ac5,000 ($6,000; \u00a34,300) to buy weapons for the attacks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-mysbf6-ComponentWrapper-CrossheadComponentWrapper e1xue1i84\" data-component=\"crosshead-block\">\n<h2 class=\"ssrcss-qozapo-StyledHeading e1fj1fc10\">Far-right attacks in Germany<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"unordered-list-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-1pzprxn-BulletListContainer e5tfeyi3\">\n<ul role=\"list\">\n<li><b class=\"ssrcss-14iz86j-BoldText e5tfeyi0\">February 2020:\u00a0<\/b><a class=\"ssrcss-hiczm3-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-europe-51577196\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A racist gunman kills nine people of migrant background<\/a>\u00a0in two shisha bars in the city of Hanau. Police later find the gunman and his mother shot dead in his flat<\/li>\n<li><b class=\"ssrcss-14iz86j-BoldText e5tfeyi0\">October 2019:\u00a0<\/b><a class=\"ssrcss-hiczm3-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-europe-55395682\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A far-right gunman attempts to storm a synagogue<\/a>\u00a0in the eastern city of Halle on the Jewish festival of Yom Kippur. After shooting at the locked front door he kills a female passer-by and a man at a kebab shop. The attacker is later sentenced to life in prison<\/li>\n<li><b class=\"ssrcss-14iz86j-BoldText e5tfeyi0\">June 2019:\u00a0<\/b><a class=\"ssrcss-hiczm3-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-europe-55824282\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Walter L\u00fcbcke, a pro-migrant politician, is shot in the head at close range in his garden<\/a>, in Germany&#8217;s first far-right political assassination since World War Two. The gunman, who filmed the attack, is jailed for life<\/li>\n<li><b class=\"ssrcss-14iz86j-BoldText e5tfeyi0\">September 2018:\u00a0<\/b><a class=\"ssrcss-hiczm3-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-europe-45704868\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Six suspects arrested after attacking and injuring foreign residents in the eastern city of Chemnitz<\/a>. Prosecutors say the men, who founded a far-right group named Revolution Chemnitz, were planning deadly attacks on foreigners, politicians and senior civil servants<\/li>\n<li><b class=\"ssrcss-14iz86j-BoldText e5tfeyi0\">July 2018:\u00a0<\/b><a class=\"ssrcss-hiczm3-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-europe-44764827\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Beate Zsch\u00e4pe is jailed for life for 10 racially-motivated murders<\/a>\u00a0spread over seven years. She and two other neo-Nazis had formed a terrorist cell called the National Socialist Underground (NSU)<\/li>\n<li><b class=\"ssrcss-14iz86j-BoldText e5tfeyi0\">July 2016:\u00a0<\/b>An 18-year-old shoots dead nine people at a shopping mall in Munich before killing himself. Bavarian authorities later classify the attack as &#8220;politically motivated&#8221;, saying the teen had &#8220;radical right-wing and racist views&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-europe-56716712\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\">The trial of 11 suspected members of a far-right &#8220;terror&#8221; group has begun in the German city of Stuttgart. The suspects, aged between 32 and 61, were arrested in February last year. Prosecutors say the <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2021\/04\/13\/german-far-right-group-on-trial-for-terror-plot\/\" title=\"German far-right group on trial for &#8216;terror plot&#8217;\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[1981,320,7676,7675,7674],"class_list":{"0":"post-18420","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-world","9":"tag-far-right-extremist","10":"tag-germany","11":"tag-gruppe-s","12":"tag-neo-nazism","13":"tag-stuttgart","14":"pmpro-has-access"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18420"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18422,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18420\/revisions\/18422"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}