DPADaniel Halemba, earlier this month
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 16:27
German police have arrested a politician from the radical right-wing AfD. 22-year-old Daniel Halemba is suspected of sedition and the use of Nazi symbols. He was arrested this morning near Stuttgart after the Public Prosecution Service issued an arrest warrant for him on Friday.
Halemba was elected to the Bavarian state parliament earlier this month. The AfD received just under 15 percent of the votes and made a significant gain. Halemba was supposed to be installed today. This would give him immunity, but now the German politician has been arrested.
Last month, police raided the premises of Halemba’s student association, the conservative Teutonia Prag. Neighbors had complained that they had regularly heard people shouting ‘Sieg Heil’. That Nazi slogan is banned in Germany. Items with Nazi symbols and racist texts were also found.
No truth
Halemba’s lawyer has published a video of the German politician accusing the state government of “repression” of the AfD. He also calls the arrest warrant “completely arbitrary”. According to his lawyer, there is “no truth” in the allegations.
The AfD leader in Bavaria calls the case “politically motivated”. The Public Prosecution Service is also investigating four other members of Teutonia Prag.
What is the AfD?
The Alternative for Germany is an anti-establishment and anti-migration party, although it was founded ten years ago as an anti-euro party. The domestic security service BfV classified the party as ‘suspicious’ last spring due to extreme views of leading figures. This status, which was used for the first time since the Second World War, makes it possible to use espionage tools to investigate the party.
2023-10-30 15:27:31
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