More than 100 wanted neo-Nazis roam free
Hans-Peter Friedrich told Die Welt newspaper that in mid-September, 110 far-right extremists who should be in jail were missing – living in hiding somewhere in the country.
Hans-Peter Friedrich told Die Welt newspaper that in mid-September, 110 far-right extremists who should be in jail were missing – living in hiding somewhere in the country.
(Reuters) - Germany launched a national register of neo-Nazis on Wednesday as it takes steps to tackle failings that allowed known extremists to wage a seven-year racist killing spree.
The 44-year-old man, named only as Thomas S., was a paid informant for the Berlin criminal police (LKA) between 2000 and 2011, Der Spiegel reported.
By Michael Birnbaum, Published: August 12
Hans-Peter Uhl, domestic policy spokesman for the Christian Social Union (CSU), said the destruction of files by the Verfassungsschutz had probably made it impossible to launch another attempt to ban the NPD on constitutional grounds. "The material that the Verfassungsschutz would now present to the Constitutional Court in an NPD ban is of course more vulnerable to attack than it used to be," Uhl told Monday’s Berliner Zeitung newspaper.
By Matthias Gebauer
DPA
Germany's Interior Ministry in Berlin also ordered the destruction of potentially sensitive files.
Minister of the Interior Hans-Peter Friedrich on Saturday rejected the suggestion from the German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger that the intelligence service should be made smaller. “This is a sweeping statement that I cannot back,” he said, adding that only by improving the service’s performance could it recover from the high-profile misjudgements it made in connection to a string of neo-Nazi murders – and seeming attempts to cover them up. Friedrich said increased efficiency rather than a reduced size would be key to meeting future challenges.
How is Germany's Turkish community reacting to the findings of a probe into the NSU terrorist organisation?
"Especially in the eastern parts of Berlin, they are far more violent than anywhere," said 19-year-old Sebastian, who preferred not to give his real name in the interest of his personal safety. "At Eberswalderstrasse [in Berlin] a month ago, a group of neo-Nazis attacked a black guy who was talking to a white woman and nearly killed him." Sebastian joined Antifa, Germany's most well-known anti-fascist organization, when he was 14 years old and now works for a number of different anti-fascist education programs.
Germany's domestic intelligence agency has offered the parliamentary committee access to 25 files relating to "Operation Rennsteig," which was aimed at recruiting informants in right-wing circles in the eastern state of Thuringia between 1997 and 2003. The operation involved the federal domestic intelligence agency, the regional agency in Thuringia and, according to the committee, the military intelligence service MAD.
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