German police have arrested a man suspected of using the darknet to call for the killing of politicians, including former chancellors Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz, judicial sources said on Tuesday.
The suspect, identified only as Martin S., a 49-year-old German-Polish national, was taken into custody late Monday in the western city of Dortmund, prosecutors announced.
According to a source close to the investigation, the man is believed to have acted alone and to have ties to a right-wing conspiracy movement. Merkel and Scholz were reportedly among several targets on his hit list.
Since June, Martin S. had allegedly issued anonymous online calls encouraging attacks on politicians and government officials, prosecutors said.
He is also accused of posting instructions for making explosive devices and soliciting cryptocurrency donations to fund “bounties” for assassinations.
Investigators say he published so-called “death sentences” he had written himself, along with personal data of potential victims. He is now under investigation for financing terrorism and inciting violence against the state.
Prosecutors confirmed that Martin S. appeared before a judge on Tuesday and was placed in pre-trial detention.
According to Spiegel Online, the suspect maintained a darknet website titled “Assassination Politics”, featuring far-right content and conspiracy theories, including misinformation linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. His hit list reportedly named around 20 people, including judges and prosecutors.
The case comes amid growing concern over the “Citizens of the Reich” (Reichsbürger) movement a conspiracy group that denies the legitimacy of the modern German state.
Once dismissed as fringe extremists, members of the movement are now viewed by security agencies as a significant threat.
In 2022, German authorities arrested several alleged members of the group, including a former lawmaker and ex-soldiers, for plotting to storm parliament, overthrow the government, and install aristocrat Prince Heinrich XIII Reuss as head of state.
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