Germany sees record number of politically motivated crimes

Germany recorded 58,916 cases of politically motivated crime in 2022, an increase of some 7% compared with the previous year, according to figures released on Tuesday.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said right-wing extremism remained the greatest threat to German democracy, with Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic also cited as important factors for the rise in politically motivated crime.

A significant increase was also recorded in crimes and acts of violence by the far-right Reichsbürger (citizens of the Reich) movement.

What the report said on Ukraine and COVID

Germany recorded 5,510 politically motivated crimes in connection with the Russian war in Ukraine. This was accompanied by a soaring number of "foreign ideology" cases, totaling 3,886 — a rise of 237%.

The war of aggression by Russian President Vladimir Putin, which is in violation of international law, "was a turning point for internal security in Germany," Faeser said.

There was also a significant increase in cases linked with the coronavirus pandemic — a jump of 52% to 13,988.

However, Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) President Holger Münch emphasized that the high point of these cases was at the beginning of 2022. They then "continuously decreased with the lifting of state restrictions."

Rise in Reichsbürger cases

The criminal offenses of Reichsbürger  and Selbstverwalter (Sovereign Citizen) movements increased by around 40% to 1865 cases.

Both terms describe a loose grouping of people who do not recognize the authority of Germany's current system of government and many of them refuse to pay taxes or fines. The Reichsbürger insist that the laws of both the German Empire and Nazi Germany still apply today.

While these crimes mainly involved coercion, threats, and insults, the number of violent crimes in this area also increased by 40% to 333.

Faeser said the state would continue to act "with all severity against the Reichsbürger," referring to a major raid at the end of last year against an alleged attempted coup from the scene.

Faeser said care should be taken when it came to the availability of weapons, with some 400 Reichsbürger adherents having at least one gun permit.

Right-wing threat lingers

Faeser and Münch emphasized that overall right-wing extremism continued to be the greatest threat to democracy. The number of such cases rose by 7% to 23,493. While the number of acts of violence in the left-wing extremist area fell significantly, they increased in the right-wing spectrum by more than 12% to 1,042.

The number of acts of violence across the board rose by 4% to 4,043. There were 2,386 cases of physical injury.

In the area of climate and environmental protection, 1,716 politically motivated crimes were registered, including street and other infrastructure blockades attributed to the Last Generation protest group. This was 72% more than in the previous year.

The minister said she had "not the slightest understanding" of such crimes, adding that the climate crisis must be "democratically fought."

rc/sms (dpa, KNA, AFP)

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