Ex-AfD deputies arrested in raid

Created: 12/07/2022 11:17 am

A man is holding a booklet with the imprint “Deutsches Reich Reisepass” in his hand.

© Patrick Seeger/dpa/symbol image

The Berlin judge and former AfD member of the Bundestag Birgit Malsack-Winkemann is one of the suspects who was arrested in the nationwide raid against the so-called Reich Citizens' Scene.

"We will exhaust all instruments to remove the accused completely from the judiciary," said Berlin's Senator for Justice Lena Kreck (left) on Wednesday on request.

Berlin/Karlsruhe – Kreck had recently tried to prevent the 58-year-old from returning to the judiciary, but had failed before the service court for judges.

"The investigations have to be awaited, but apparently the Senate administration was right in its assessment," she said after the arrest.

Malsack-Winkemann sat for the AfD in the Bundestag from 2017 to 2021, in March 2022 she returned to the judiciary and works at the Berlin Regional Court.

From the point of view of the federal prosecutor, the arrested persons belong to a terrorist organization.

On Wednesday morning, the authority had a total of 25 people from the so-called Reich Citizens' Scene arrested nationwide.

The federal prosecutor accuses the accused of having prepared the overthrow of the state.

The Berlin Senate Department of Justice and Senator Kreck wanted to retire Malsack-Winkemann.

As a judge, she was no longer impartial, they argued in court.

In the Bundestag, she had repeatedly and publicly "excluded refugees and belittled them because of their origin" and in debates and on the Internet "made constructed, obviously false statements about refugees".

Malsack-Winkemann said at the time that she had separated the tasks and after leaving the Bundestag "reacted immediately and distanced herself from it".

The court had rejected her retirement with reference to the freedom of speech in the Bundestag guaranteed by the Basic Law.

The decision of last October is not yet final.

dpa