Politics Alleged left-wing extremist arrested in Germany
The German police have arrested a suspected ringleader of the violent left-wing extremist scene in Thuringia. Security circles have confirmed that he is believed to be part of the Leipzig group led by Lina E., a student who has already been convicted.
The man is considered to be the head of the group around Lina E. According to the German Press Agency, the arrest was not made by chance. Rather, investigators had been on his trail for some time.
The man had already been the subject of a public search. According to the Federal Public Prosecutor General and the Saxony Criminal Police Office, he is urgently suspected of having participated in several politically motivated physical assaults as a member of a criminal organization. According to the information provided, some of the victims suffered serious injuries.
Arrest warrant since 2021
The arrest warrant for the man, who has been in hiding since the summer of 2020 at the latest, dates from March 26, 2021. According to earlier statements by the Saxon State Criminal Police Office, investigators were "fairly certain" that he was also involved in attacks on suspected supporters of the far-right scene in Hungary's capital Budapest in February 2023.
In May 2023, the Dresden Higher Regional Court (OLG) sentenced Lina E. to five years and three months in prison for several attacks on right-wing extremists. Despite this, she was initially released after two and a half years in custody. The arrest warrant was suspended subject to conditions. She will only have to serve the remainder of her sentence if the verdict is final.
For her three co-defendants, the State Security Chamber of the Higher Regional Court imposed prison sentences of between two and a half years and three years and three months. The Federal Public Prosecutor General accused them of brutally beating up actual or alleged supporters of the right-wing scene in Leipzig, Wurzen and Eisenach between 2018 and 2020. The name of the suspect who has now been caught was repeatedly mentioned during the trial.
SDA
