Kusel police murders: Officials are investigating hundreds of cases of hate and hate speech

Created: 2022-02-07 16:31

By: Patrick Huljina

After the murder of two young police officers near Kusel, the police set up a "Hate Speech" investigation group.

The first results were presented on Monday.

Kusel – The act caused shock throughout Germany.

A 24-year-old police officer and a 29-year-old chief inspector were shot dead during a traffic check near Kusel*.

The two suspects, a 32-year-old and a 38-year-old man from the Saarland, are being held in custody on charges of joint murder and commercial poaching.

After police murders: Hundreds of cases of hate and hate speech online

After the crime, the police set up the "Hate Speech" investigation group to identify and prosecute hate and hate comments on the Internet*.

In the week after the Kusel police murders, officials identified a total of 399 cases of hate and hate speech online in connection with the crime.

The investigative team consists of 14 experts.

According to the provisional status, 102 of these posts are criminally relevant, said Rhineland-Palatinate Interior Minister Roger Lewentz (SPD) on Monday in Mainz.

15 suspected responsible persons have already been identified with real names.

Lewentz called the shooting of the two young police officers "a cowardly murder in the most brutal way". 

In front of the Kusel police station, people laid flowers and candles as a sign of mourning.

© Sebastian Gollnow/dpa

Man arrested in Rhineland-Palatinate: Call for violence against police officers

In the night of last Friday (February 4th), the police in the Herrstein-Rhaunen district (Birkenfeld district) arrested a man who is said to have spread hate comments against police officers on the Internet and called for violence.

The 55-year-old is said to have uploaded two videos to his public Facebook profile in which, among other things, he gave instructions on how to lure police officers onto a dirt road and ambush them.

The President of the Rhineland-Palatinate State Criminal Police Office (LKA), Johannes Kunz, said on Monday that there were indications "that speak for an assignment to the Reich citizen spectrum". 

In the case of the two police officers killed in Kusel, the authorities are gradually making more investigation findings and details public.

The Saarland judiciary is said to have repeatedly investigated a suspect*.