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Demands for the fight against right-wing extremism: More personnel, stricter laws, faster access

2019-10-15T17:17:24.298Z


How do Germany's security agencies want to combat right-wing extremism more effectively? Federal Office of Criminal Investigation and the Protection of the Constitution have now presented measures. A core requirement: more rights to monitor the Internet.



In the paper, with which the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) right-wing extremists announce the fight, not all sentences sound reassuring. In the case of self-radicalized perpetrators, the security authorities had "limited effective prevention and investigation approaches in advance".

Put simply, this means that the BKA and the constitutional protection have blind spots when it comes to the prevention and detection of right-wing terror. Now, the two security agencies have made public their common plans to combat right-wing extremist threats.

They see massive need for action. "The situation is serious," says BKA boss Holger Münch.

The deadly attack in Halle, months before the murder of the Kassel district president Walter Lübcke - both incidents have put the policy in an alarm. Because both attackers did not have the security authorities or no longer on the screen.

  • The alleged Lübcke murderer Stephan Ernst was indeed known as a neo-Nazi, but his crimes were years back. For the authorities, he was considered a "cooled" right-wing extremist, he disappeared from the radar.
  • The hall assassin radicalized itself in silence, in right forums and chats. He did not turn up in any security agency files - then he struck.

The threat from the right is now seen as one of the biggest threats in the country, as Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) recently stated. The authorities have obviously internalized this. The papers also point to their plans for reform, in which problems are openly disclosed.

But how do you intend to prevent such acts in the future, as in Kassel and in Halle?

From the point of view of the BKA and the protection of the Constitution, there are many things missing: they urgently need more staff, laws that allow access to chats and forums, better international exchange of information.

Together, the two authorities now put forward a catalog of proposals and demands . Where they want to start and what problems there are - the overview.

  • Right-wing extremist radar: An early-warning system should sound the alarm in case of danger. For Islamists such a radar is already used: Did the person already dealing with weapons or explosives? Were mental problems diagnosed? Depending on the category, points are awarded and classifications are made. If things go according to the BKA, this data analysis will in future be transferred to right-wing extremists (read more here). High-ranking security officials expect the number of extreme right-wing extremists to increase significantly in the coming months; currently there are 43. They trust the police at any time from serious violence to terrorist attacks.

  • Extension of retention periods : Information about possible extremists who can not yet be assigned to a procedure may be stored by the BKA for a maximum of twelve months. According to the police department, such information usually only becomes relevant after years. Especially when it comes to recognizing relationships between persons and actions. But the storage period is too short for that. The Hessian Ministry of the Interior has already drawn consequences from the Lübcke murder. Before files of allegedly inactive right-wing extremists are destroyed because of certain deletion deadlines with the protection of the constitution, the persons should be examined again.

  • Fight against hate crime: Interior Minister Seehofer and Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) want to commit Internet providers to report criminal content. Such postings should not only be deleted, but prosecuted. In addition, the protection of the Constitution should be able to access chats and voice messages that are encrypted. So far, only the BKA has the opportunity to install appropriate Trojans on the phone of a suspect. Data protectors see a change in the law, however, critical.

  • International Information Exchange: In the field of Islamism, authorities often benefit from information from the US, say security experts. But right-wing extremism is still in trouble. This is also evident at EU level. Although most of the EU interior ministers have recognized the danger there, there is a lack of definition of what violent right-wing extremism actually is.

  • More staff: The protection of the Constitution wants to provide 300 new employees in the fight against right-wing extremism. Interior Minister Seehofer had already announced this. The BKA has requested 440 new jobs. The money is in the budget but so far not yet provided.

  • Further demands: Prohibitions of far-right organizations should be examined - in safety circles there is talk of six ongoing examinations. Seehofer had already announced possible club bans after the Lübcke murder. But so far nothing has happened. In addition, the Office of the Protection of the Constitution demands that players and groups of the "New Right" (such as the Identitarian Movement) be examined more intensively. Right-wing rock concerts and martial arts events, which are used to finance the scene, are also increasingly being the focus of attention. These tasks are often taken over by the countries themselves - the successes in the fight against neo-Nazis are correspondingly different.

The efforts make it clear what significance the topic has after the incidents in Kassel and Halle - and that after the murders of the National Socialist Underground (NSU) many reforms were stopped halfway.

How difficult the road will be, the statements of senior officials make clear. A constitutionalist who wants to remain anonymous drew a bleak picture in the fight against neo-Nazis: "The security agencies alone will fail in this task."

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2019-10-15

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