After police officers were killed: nationwide raids because of hate comments

Created: 06/20/2022, 16:52

Candles and flowers at the scene where a young female police officer and her colleague were shot dead while conducting a traffic stop (archive photo).

© Sebastian Gollnow/dpa

After hate messages on the Internet, investigators searched the homes of 75 suspects in 15 federal states.

A total of 150 suspects are being investigated.

Mainz – One day before the planned trial for the murders of a policewoman and a policewoman near Kusel in Rhineland-Palatinate, investigators went on a nationwide raid because of hate messages on the Internet.

According to the Koblenz public prosecutor's office, more than 80 apartments in 15 federal states were searched throughout Germany, with eleven apartments in Rhineland-Palatinate alone.

According to the authorities, there are a total of 150 criminal cases.

Hate messages after the killing of two police officers near Kusel - LKA determined

The coordinated large-scale action is based on the results of the work of an investigative group of the Rhineland-Palatinate State Criminal Police Office and the Attorney General's Office in Koblenz, which was founded because of hate comments on the police murders.

According to the investigating authorities, the allegations are such as disturbing the public peace by condoning crimes, denigrating the memory of the deceased or insult.

Because of the murder of the policewoman and the policeman near Kusel, a suspected poacher has to answer to the district court in Kaiserslautern from Tuesday.

The 39-year-old is said to have shot the two officers during a night traffic check on a country road at the end of January in order to prevent his illegal hunting activities from being exposed.

The act sparked nationwide outrage.

According to the authorities, it also led to hate comments on the Internet welcoming the crime.

Police murder near Kusel: 1,700 references to hate speech are received

According to the police and prosecutors, the Hate Speech investigation group has so far followed up more than 1,700 tips, of which almost 540 online posts and around 310 so-called likes were classified as criminally relevant.

State Interior Minister Roger Lewentz (SPD) spoke on Monday in Mainz with a view to the online posts of words that were "stunned".

The state will not tolerate such "disgusting slurs".

The searches by the investigative team on Monday should therefore "not have been the last".

According to the authorities, the investigations have so far targeted 150 suspects.

During Monday's raids, 75 suspects were found and primarily smartphones and computers were confiscated as possible evidence.

Eleven searches took place in Rhineland-Palatinate.

Numerous police authorities and public prosecutor's offices in other countries were also involved, as was the Federal Criminal Police Office in Wiesbaden.

It was not the first action taken by the investigative authorities against authors of hate messages about the Kusel police murders.

At the beginning of May, the Koblenz public prosecutor's office brought charges against a 55-year-old in this context.

Shortly after the double murder, the man is said to have called for further police murders in videos on the Internet.

According to investigators, he is a supporter of Reich citizen and conspiracy