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Combat boots on a demo of the right-wing scene (symbolic image)
Photo: Bernd Thissen / dpa
The German authorities recently used an arrest warrant to search for 596 right-wing extremists.
In 140 of them, the arrest warrant was based on suspicion of a politically motivated act, and nine of these people had multiple arrest warrants.
This emerges from the response of the Federal Ministry of the Interior to a small request from the left-wing parliamentary group in the Bundestag, which the dpa news agency has received.
The figures reflect the status as of September 30th.
A total of 788 arrest warrants for the search against politically motivated criminals from the right-wing spectrum were recently open in various police databases.
Six months earlier, 602 open arrest warrants against rights had been stored there.
Several arrest warrants can be issued for one person, and only some of the arrest warrants against extremists involve politically motivated acts.
Criticism because of increasing numbers
147 of those wanted are suspected of a violent offense, twelve of them even involve several such offenses.
For 24 of the 147 people, the police search database Inpol-Z recorded the suspicion of a politically motivated act of violence as the reason for the arrest warrant.
The left-wing member of the Bundestag Martina Renner criticized the increase in outstanding arrest warrants.
The number is an important benchmark for the new federal government.
"The seriousness of the fight against extreme right-wing organization and violence is also measured by the execution of arrest warrants against neo-Nazis."
ptz / dpa