Federal prosecutors have arrested a man suspected of encouraging attacks on politicians on the darknet, including by using cryptocurrency as a “reward.” The man is also said to have compiled a list of potential targets.
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.
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.
