Revolution Chemnitz

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Revolution Chemnitz is the self-name of a right-wing terrorist group from the Chemnitz area . The group attacked people with a migration background in Chemnitz on September 14, 2018 and is said to have planned an "attack on the media dictatorship and its slaves" for October 3, 2018, the day of German unity . The eight male members of the group were in custody pending the verdict. On March 24, 2020, the judgment was passed by the Dresden Higher Regional Court : The members were sentenced to several years imprisonment for membership in a terrorist organization and partly for breach of the peace .

chronology

Foreigners-out demonstration on August 27, 2018 in Chemnitz

The course of events is still the subject of the investigations and, according to previous investigations, is as follows:

  • September 10, 2018: Christian K., a 31-year-old electrician and alleged leader of the group, founded a chat group with the name Revolution Chemnitz in the messenger service Telegram . According to the Federal Prosecutor's Office , the members were recruited from the hooligan , skinhead and neo-Nazi scene in the Chemnitz area. K. is said to have called in the group to "change the history of Germany". The National Socialist Underground (NSU) is said to have been referred to in the chat group as a “kindergarten preschool group”.
The members of the group had been active on the internet since autumn 2013. On Facebook, for example, they warned of the “death of the people” and insulted refugees and foreigners as “maggots” and “terrorists”. Several of the later accused are said to have participated in the demonstration led by AfD , Pegida and Pro Chemnitz on September 1, 2018.
  • September 14, 2018: Members of the group, including Christian K., are said to have acted as a " vigilante " and initially tried to check the IDs of several people who celebrated their birthday on the Schloßteichinsel in Chemnitz . They eventually attacked another group, made up of foreigners and Germans, using glass bottles, quartz gloves, and a stun gun . Together with other right-wing extremists willing to use violence, they are said to have attacked and injured several people. A man of Pakistani origin sustained a head injury. Christian K. was arrested that day on behalf of the Chemnitz public prosecutor's office for a particularly serious breach of the peace .
  • September 21, 2018: The attorney general took on that day due to the Chemnitzer violence investigation on suspicion of forming a criminal organization according to § 129 of the Criminal Code and realized there evidence of "a terrorist purpose". The investigators later assumed that the acts of September 14th were a "test run" for an event planned by the accused for the Day of German Unity on October 3rd, 2018, but not yet fully explained in its details .
  • October 1, 2018: On behalf of the Federal Public Prosecutor, a total of six men between the ages of 20 and 30 were arrested in Saxony and Bavaria on suspicion of forming a right-wing terrorist organization . Over 100 officers from the Saxon police were involved in the operation. Among those arrested was Tom W., who was on trial ten years ago - as a member of the banned neo-Nazi group Sturm 34 , which had carried out several attacks in central Saxony. On the basis of their right-wing extremist sentiments, according to the investigators, the group members aimed at a “revolutionary overcoming” of the democratic state. According to the FAZ, the group's attack targets include foreigners as well as politicians, journalists and “heads of civil society who stand up for democracy, freedom and the rule of law ”. The members had tried to obtain semi-automatic firearms .
  • October 4, 2018: Stephan J. Kramer , President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution of Thuringia , stated that he saw tendencies towards a new right-wing terrorism.
  • October 24, 2018: The State Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Saxony warned of new acts of violence against migrants and also named those arrested in the Chemnitz Revolution in this context.
  • On June 25, 2019, the Federal Prosecutor's Office in Karlsruhe brought charges against eight members of the Chemnitz Revolution.
  • The first day of the criminal proceedings against eight defendants was on September 30, 2019 at the Dresden Higher Regional Court . It took place in front of the State Security Senate in the high-security wing of the Higher Regional Court.

Possible causes

According to the political scientist Hajo Funke , who is considered an expert on right-wing extremism , there has been a “terror-related network” in Chemnitz for more than 20 years: “That was the reason why the three previously known perpetrators of the 'National Socialist Underground', Uwe Mundlos , Uwe Böhnhardt and Beate Zschäpe first went to Chemnitz when they went into hiding. There they were among their own kind. This network, which was only weakened a little here and there, such as when the so-called 'National Socialists Chemnitz' was banned, still exists today. ”In Chemnitz, as part of the riots in late August and early September 2018, an alliance of the völkisch - national wing of the AfD with right-wing extremist organizations, hooligans and neo-Nazis. The right-wing scene feels encouraged by the unleashing of resentment.

Already on August 27, 2018, the AfD parliamentary group in Hochtaunuskreis posted about the “beginning of a revolution ”: “In the case of revolutions known to us, the broadcasting houses and press publishers were stormed at some point and the employees dragged onto the street”.

Hazard potential

Saxony's Interior Minister Roland Wöller (CDU) described the arrests as a “decisive blow against right-wing extremism and right-wing terrorism”. A clear signal had been sent to recognize such structures early on and to destroy them. The Left Party also praised the investigators' crackdown, but called for an even tougher pace in the fight against right-wing extremism. The President of the Protection of the Constitution of Thuringia Kramer informed the RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND) that all ingredients and requirements for right-wing terrorism were recognizable.

Irene Mihalic , politician of the Greens , also quoted by the RND: "The extreme right organizes and networks nationwide at all levels and it seems to have a veritable violence-oriented arm."

Role of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution of Saxony

The role of the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Saxony was also discussed during the investigation by the Federal Prosecutor's Office and the subsequent trial against members of the group . The authority apparently had no idea about the plans of the "Revolution Chemnitz", although he was known to be the alleged leader Christian K. as a right-wing extremist.

In 2005, relatives of Christian K. reported to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution out of concern for the then 17-year-old man who was involved in right-wing extremist structures. Christian K. moved to Hessen in 2006. The Saxon Constitutional Protection had arranged appropriate social benefits for him through the job center, apparently so that he could break free from the scene. However, K. returned to Saxony after a few weeks and stated that he had broken away from the right-wing extremist scene, says the constitutional protection chief Gordian Meyer-Plath at the later hearing. In the following years Christian K. was convicted several times of robbery, fraud, sedition and the use of symbols of unconstitutional organizations . While in custody, Christian K. offered himself to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Saxony as an undercover agent. In his two-page application letter he referred to his expertise on right-wing extremist structures: he could provide details about the banned National Socialists Chemnitz (NSC), the banned association "Sturm 34" and the hooligan group HooNaRa (hooligans Nazis racists) around Chemnitzer FC serve. Meyer-Plath and his colleagues decided against working together, however, because K. had shown himself to be "very unreliable" and could only have provided information that was no longer up-to-date. K.'s family again pushed for him to drop out. Meyer-Plath said in March 2020 that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution had no knowledge of this or a possible success, since the Ministry of the Interior was responsible for this. As of 2017, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution suspected Christian K. of police reports, initiator of the Facebook page “Revolution Chemnitz ANW “(Alternative National Resistance).

Press coverage

All important national media in the German-speaking area reported. The television magazine Monitor , Spiegel, Zeit, FAZ and Süddeutsche in particular devoted themselves to this topic in detail. Foreign-speaking countries also took note of the incidents in Chemnitz, for example BBC , New York Times , Liberation or The Times of Israel . Even in China, the threat to public safety in Germany was received by right-wing extremists.

The press made historical references to the Oktoberfest attack on September 26, 1980, to the series of murders by the NSU and to the OSS and Freital vigilante groups , both also active in Saxony and both officially banned. In the comments, the work of the investigative authorities was rated positively in some cases because the arrests were made in good time before a possible attack; on the other hand, politics, the judiciary and the police were also heavily criticized for the fact that appropriate preventive activities were not carried out in advance. Funke: "There is a neo-Nazi scene especially where the rule of law, politics and the public do not oppose it decisively." In Saxony, the problem has long been denied. The columnist Henryk M. Broder had already referred to the Saxon Prime Minister in this context as a “speechless babbler” who had overruled the rule of law .

At a citizens' dialogue in Dresden on October 1, 2018, Michael Kretschmer (CDU) admitted that in the fight against right-wing extremism, his state was not "where we wanted to be."

process

On March 24, 2020, the Dresden Higher Regional Court sentenced the eight defendants to imprisonment between two years and three months and up to five and a half years, among other things for membership in a terrorist organization. Christian K. was also convicted as the founder and ringleader of this association. The five who took part in the so-called “trial run” on September 14, 2018, were also convicted of breach of the peace and one of willful assault. During the trial, the judges repeatedly drew a comparison with the " Freital Group " excavated in 2016 .

The court saw it as proven that "the men [...] formed the right-wing terrorist organization Revolution Chemnitz, whose aim was to procure firearms in order to overthrow the democratic order in the Federal Republic of Germany while accepting the killing of people To put in gear. "

The trial took place under special security precautions in a separate room of the Higher Regional Court. This had previously been set up for the trial against the right-wing extremist terrorist organization "Gruppe Freital". Despite the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany , the process was continued and brought to a conclusion.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Iris Bonavida : Neo-Nazis in Germany "now see the time has come" , Die Presse (Vienna), October 5, 2018, p. 8.
  2. ↑ Hannoversche Allgemeine The alleged leader of "Revolution Chemnitz" was also active in "Sturm 34" , October 4, 2018
  3. ↑ tagesschau.de: Imprisonment for "Revolution Chemnitz". Retrieved March 24, 2020 .
  4. ^ WORLD: Terror group "Revolution Chemnitz" is said to have planned a radical right-wing overthrow. October 1, 2018, accessed October 24, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Ready to overthrow , Zeit Online, October 3, 2018.
  6. ↑ Jörg Diehl, Fidelius Schmid and Wolf Wiedmann-Schmidt: How the authorities tracked down the Chemnitz cell , Der Spiegel (Hamburg), October 3, 2018
  7. ↑ MDR : "Revolution Chemnitz": Suspected right-wing terrorists arrested , October 1, 2018
  8. ↑ Six suspected right-wing terrorists arrested , Süddeutsche Zeitung, October 1, 2018.
  9. ↑ a b Stefan Locke : A self-appointed vigilante , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , October 1, 2018
  10. ↑ Arrest and search measures on suspicion of the formation of a right-wing terrorist association , Der Generalbundesanwalt, October 1, 2018
  11. ↑ Frankfurter Allgemeine : Six alleged right-wing terrorists arrested , October 1, 2018
  12. ↑ a b Der Tagesspiegel (Berlin): "Revolution Chemnitz": Men are said to have talked about weapons in chat. 3rd October 2018.
  13. ^ Die Zeit (Hamburg): Chemnitz: Six alleged right-wing terrorists arrested , accessed on October 5, 2018
  14. ↑ RT German : Chemnitz: The protection of the constitution fears new acts of violence against foreigners , October 24, 2018, 7:40 p.m.
  15. ↑ Stefan Locke: "Revolution Chemnitz": Start of the process against alleged terrorist group . September 30, 2019, ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed January 18, 2020]).
  16. ^ Julia Jüttner: "Revolution Chemnitz" -Process start: Right-wing extremist class reunion. In: Spiegel Online. September 30, 2019, accessed January 18, 2020 .
  17. ↑ A minority who are "capable of anything" , Süddeutsche Zeitung, October 3, 2018
  18. ↑ Tagesschau : After riots in Chemnitz , with the fake news expert Patrick Gensing , here after a recording on YouTube , published on August 31, 2018
  19. ↑ Die Freie Welt , a right-wing blog, reported: “The seven […] are supposed to have planned the coup in Germany. An air rifle and batons were found during apartment searches. That's it. ” The Free World : Chemnitz“ revolutionaries ”didn't even have weapons , October 2nd, 2018
  20. ↑ a b c Julia Jüttner, DER SPIEGEL: "Revolution Chemnitz": President of the Protection of the Constitution in court - DER SPIEGEL - Panorama. Retrieved March 13, 2020 .
  21. ↑ tagesschau.de: "Revolution Chemnitz": Did Christian K. want to become a V-man? Retrieved March 13, 2020 .
  22. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung: Head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution says about the “Chemnitz Group” Retrieved March 13, 2020 .
  23. ^ «Revolution Chemnitz»: The head of the constitutional protection should testify | Free press - Chemnitz. Retrieved March 13, 2020 .
  24. ↑ French.China.org.cn: L'enquête sur "Révolution Chemnitz" ravive le débat sur l'extrême-droite en Allemagne , 3 October 2018
  25. ↑ WELT-TV: BRODER ABOUT SACHSEN'S HEAD OF THE GOVERNMENT: “The man is a speechless talker”. August 30, 2018.
  26. ^ A b prison sentences for "Revolution Chemnitz". In: tagesschau.de . Retrieved March 24, 2020 .
  27. ^ Judgment in the case of "Revolution Chemnitz" - terror, not just "chatter". In: Spiegel Online . Retrieved March 27, 2020 .
  28. ↑ March 24th, 2020 - Judgment in criminal proceedings against the »Chemnitz Group« announced. Higher Regional Court of Dresden , accessed on March 27, 2020 .