Germany detains man accused of offering to pay people to kill politicians

Former German chancellors Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz are reported to have been on alleged hitlist of supect ‘Martin S’.

German police have detained a suspect accused of running a darknet platform that called for prominent politicians to be murdered, according to prosecutors.

The suspect, a German-Polish dual citizen identified only as “Martin S.” in line with German privacy rules, was detained in the western city of Dortmund late on Monday, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement. Public broadcaster ARD reported that he had ties to the far-right Reich Citizens movement, citing security sources.

He is suspected of “terrorism” financing, providing instructions for committing serious acts of violence endangering the state and dangerous dissemination of personal data.

Prosecutors allege that Martin S. had been calling for attacks on politicians, officials and other figures in German public life on the darknet – the name given to parts of the internet that can only be accessed using specialised software – since at least June. He is accused of anonymously running a platform on which he published lists of names, self-styled death sentences and instructions for building explosives.

Prosecutors did not address his motive or suggest he was working for a foreign actor.

Martin S. also allegedly called for donations in cryptocurrency that were intended to be offered as a reward for killing his targets. The platform contained sensitive personal data on potential victims, prosecutors said.

While authorities did not name any of the politicians or public figures Martin S. had targeted, Spiegel news magazine reported that former chancellors Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz, as well as other former federal ministers, were on the list.

German politicians complain that they are increasingly subject to attacks, both verbal and physical, at a time of deepening polarisation.

There has also been a general increase in the scale of cyber threats to Germany and other Western countries.

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, asked about the case at a previously scheduled news conference, said the investigation into a suspect trying to generate money to finance attacks against public figures via “a right-wing extremist platform” had been ongoing since June. He declined to give further details.

Federal prosecutors are responsible for significant extremism-related and national security cases in Germany.

Prosecutors said in a statement on Tuesday that “the accused will appear before an investigative judge today, who will decide whether to issue an arrest warrant”.