Right-wing extremist network activist in court for sedition

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Liebich in court: accusation of sedition, defamation, insult, defamation and abuse of religious societies and ideological associations

He is accused of sedition, slander, insult, defamation and insulting religious societies and ideological associations: At the start of the trial before the Halle district court, the well-known right-wing extremist Sven Liebich rejected all allegations made against him. He was not a seducer, said Liebich. According to the dpa news agency, he is one of the leading figures on the right-wing extremist scene in Germany.

According to the indictment, the 49-year-old is said to have hounded against migrants on an internet blog since 2016 and offered stickers via his online shop. He wanted to maliciously despise people because of their ethnic origin, to portray and denigrate dark-skinned people and migrants as violent sex offenders, said Chief Prosecutor Ulf Lenzner.

In addition, Liebich slandered politicians and discredited them with false claims in order to damage their reputation. This included the Green politician Renate Künast and the former SPD chairman Martin Schulz, said Lenzer. In a livestream of a demonstration against the Identitarian Movement in Halle, the defendant described people as "cockroaches, ticks, terrorists" or others as "left maggots".

Liebich describes himself as the "creator"

Video recordings and stickers that Liebich had offered for sale on the Internet were shown in the court. The defendant appeared in court wearing a suit and a black face mask with the word "muzzle" written on it in white letters. He commented on all charges and invoked freedom of expression. With some of his statements on the Internet, Liebich defended himself against the accusation of agitation against migrants that he dealt with everyday problems in a "satirical and artistic" way. He is "a creator" and did not want to offend any religions with his "art".

According to the dpa, Liebich had already been sentenced to a fine of 10,000 euros by a court in Frankfurt am Main at the end of January for claiming in a Facebook entry that the politician Künast had approved of pedosexuality if it was non-violent. However, the politician did not say so, the judges ruled.

Liebich is named in the constitution protection report of the state of Saxony-Anhalt. He has been classified as right-wing extremist for years. He comments on daily articles in an unreal and diffuse way, and acts primarily as a provocateur and conspiracy theorist.

fek / dpa