Germany, 596 arrest warrants against right-wing extremists

German authorities recently issued arrest warrants against 596 right-wing extremists. This was revealed by the Ministry of the Interior, responding to a parliamentary question. In 140 cases, arrest warrants were issued for suspected politically motivated crimes. Nine people were subject to multiple arrest orders. The question was asked by the parliamentary group of Linke, the party of the left, and obtained by the Dpa. The numbers are valid as of September 30, 2021. Police databases recorded a total of 788 arrest warrants to be executed for politically motivated far-right crimes. Six months earlier, there were 602 arrest warrants in place against right-wing extremists. A person may be subject to multiple arrest warrants and only some of the orders concern politically motivated crimes. The data includes 147 people suspected of having committed a violent crime, 12 of whom have committed more than one. For 24 out of 147 people, the Inpol-Z database reports the crime underlying the arrest warrant as violence with suspected political motive. Linke’s Martina Renner criticized the increase in arrest orders, calling the figure an important parameter for the new German government. “The seriousness of the fight against far-right violence can also be measured by the execution of arrest warrants against neo-Nazis,” he said.