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Call for murder on Telegram: Online agitator Oliver Janich receives a suspended sentence

2022-12-05T12:51:44.761Z


A well-known conspiracy theorist called for the murder of German politicians from the Philippines. According to SPIEGEL information, the Munich public prosecutor's office has now obtained a criminal order.


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Oliver Janich in an online video: He has over 130,000 followers on Telegram

Photo: Online video by Oliver Janich

According to SPIEGEL information, the Munich public prosecutor's office applied for a penal order against the conspiracy theorist Oliver Janich, who lives in the Philippines, at the end of November.

The local central office for combating extremism and terrorism accuses Janich of hate speech, public incitement to commit crimes, rewarding and condoning crimes, insults and defamation.

Janich is said to have "made himself liable to prosecution through several publications via the Telegram news service," says the Munich public prosecutor's office.

With over 130,000 subscribers to the messenger app, Janich is one of the most influential German conspiracy theorists.

In a contribution he had approved of "the summary execution of all members of the federal and state governments".

When Joe Biden became US President, the 53-year-old posted: »Hang Biden.

Hang Soros.

Hang 'em all, dammit."

In its penalty order, the Attorney General's Office called for a suspended prison sentence of ten months.

The "wide range of Janich's statements" was rated as aggravated punishment.

According to the authorities, the penalty order was applied for at the Munich district court and is now final.

Accordingly, Janich should have agreed to the punishment demanded by the public prosecutor.

His lawyer declined to comment on the matter when asked.

A dropout community in the Philippines

Oliver Janich was arrested in the Philippines in August when police officers armed with pistols and assault rifles broke into his apartment in the Seaview Resort on the island of Tablas.

Videos show how the officers meet him in boxer shorts, bring him to the ground and teach him: "You have the right to remain silent."

Years ago, Janich founded a kind of dropout community called "Project Escape" in his adopted country.

They offer an "escape from the unspeakable politics in Europe," it says on the homepage.

For a long time, Janich's hate posts didn't seem to bother anyone in the Philippines.

But then a liaison officer at the German embassy in Manila informed the Filipinos that there was an arrest warrant against Janich in Germany.

Since the spectacular access in the resort, Janich has been in prison in the Philippines.

As SPIEGEL learned from the Foreign Office on Friday, Janich is "still in detention" and is being "consularly looked after."

Posts continued to be published on Janich's channel after his arrest.

Among other things, there is advertising for products from the shop of the conspiracy theory Kopp Verlag.

In the past, Janich tried to get money from his followers with a pay-subscription model.

For a few weeks now, those around him have been promoting donations in the digital currency Bitcoin via his channel with the hashtag #freejanich.

So far, the equivalent of almost 29,000 euros has been received in a corresponding donation account.

In the sights of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution

The Bavarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies Janich as a right-wing extremist and anti-Semite.

In an analysis, the office described him as the “widespread disseminator of the QAnon conspiracy theory in German-speaking countries”.

The Attorney General's Office said that when the penalty order was served, the arrest warrant was also requested to be lifted.

"Accordingly, there is no need for extradition for the purpose of criminal prosecution in this matter," the authority said.

It was initially unclear whether the conspiracy theorist would be released from prison and can remain in the Philippines, or whether the authorities there would continue to seek deportation to Germany.

On Janich's Telegram account it said last week without further justification: "The channel will probably have to be discontinued."

Source: spiegel

All tech articles on 2022-12-05

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