A German-Polish man was arrested in Dortmund on suspicion of running a darknet platform that encouraged attacks on politicians and offered rewards for carrying them out, federal prosecutors said.
Identified only as Martin S. under German privacy rules, the suspect is accused of posting guides on how to build explosives and soliciting cryptocurrency donations that were to be paid out as bounties for violent acts. Prosecutors say the site also published a list of politicians and public figures with names and personal details alongside self-styled death sentences.
Authorities say the calls for violence on the platform date back at least to June. Reports from the DPA news agency and the magazine Spiegel say the list named former chancellors Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz. Investigators reportedly found so-called “criminal files” and death sentences targeting judges and state prosecutors, and material described as right-wing extremist, racist and linked to conspiracy theories.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the content had appeared on “a right-wing extremist platform.” The suspect faces charges including financing terrorism, incitement to violence aimed at undermining the state, and dangerous disclosure of personal data. He is due before the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe, which will decide whether he should be held in custody pending trial.
The arrest comes amid a wider rise in threats and attacks against politicians in Germany. Critics link the trend to a tougher political climate and a resurgence of far-right forces. Incidents in recent years include an assault on Green politician Yvonne Mosler in Dresden while she was putting up campaign posters and an attack that hospitalized Social Democrat Franziska Giffey in a Berlin library. The 2019 murder of state politician Walter Lübcke by a neo-Nazi remains a grim reminder of the danger.
Prosecutors say the investigation is ongoing and further details may emerge as the case proceeds.