Police arrest German who threatened politicians, journalists

Police in Berlin have arrested a 53-year-old German man on suspicion of sending dozens of threatening letters to politicians, lawyers and journalists that were signed with the acronym of a far-right extremist group, officials said Tuesday.

Prosecutors in Frankfurt, who are handling the case, said the man was detained in the German capital on Monday.

The suspect, whose name wasn't released for privacy reasons, has previous convictions for "numerous crimes, including ones that were motivated by right-wing ideology," prosecutors said.

The letters were signed "NSU 2.0" - a reference to the National Socialist Underground group that was responsible for a string of violent crimes between 1998 and 2011, including the racially motivated killings of nine men with immigrant backgrounds and a policewoman.

Police think the suspect sent almost 100 letters to dozens of people and organizations across Germany and Austria since 2018. German news agency dpa reported that investigators think the suspect may have obtained personal data on the people he targeted from official records or Darknet forums.

German security agencies warned of the growing threat of violent far-right extremism. In July 2019, a regional politician from Chancellor Angela Merkel's party was killed by a neo-Nazi; three months later, a gunman tried to force his way into a synagogue on Yom Kippur, killing two people.

In February of last year nine people with immigrant backgrounds were shot dead in Hanau, near Frankfurt, by a gunman who had called for genocide.

Authorities have raised concerns about the role the Alternative for Germany party allegedly played in stoking a climate of resentment toward immigrants and the government. The party, which placed third in Germany's 2017 election, has moved steadily to the right in recent years, drawing increasing scrutiny from the country's domestic intelligence agency.

On Tuesday, Alternative for Germany's section in Berlin condemned a member who appeared to lament the absence of attacks on Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The news website Business Insider reported that AfD's former chairman in Berlin, Guenter Brinker, forwarded a message stating that "either that piece of dirt is so well protect that nobody can get at her, or don't the Germans have any balls?" Brinker said later that he had mistakenly forwarded the message and regretted doing so, and that he rejected "all forms of hatred and violence." Germany's top security official was scheduled to release an annual report on politically motivated crimes on Tuesday.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)