Germany: Suspected left-wing extremist arrested in Thuringia

After a yearslong manhunt, German police have arrested a suspected ringleader of a violent left-wing extremist movement in Thuringia.

He is attributed to the Leipzig group connected with the already-convicted student Lina E., reported on by the German news agency DPA and the newspaper Bild.

Security sources told DPA that the arrest was an intelligence-led operation.

German police said they were "pretty sure" that the man was also involved in attacks on suspected far-right supporters in Budapest in February 2023.

Arrest warrant since 2021

The arrest warrant for the arrested man dates back to March 26, 2021, according to earlier statements by the Saxon State Criminal Police Office.

Federal prosecutors and Saxony police said the man is suspected of having participated in several politically motivated physical assaults, adding some of the victims of those attacks suffered significant injuries.

In May 2023, Lina E. was found guilty in a German court of leading a series of violent attacks on neo-Nazis. The sprawling trial sparked controversy and fears of extremism driven by leftist ideology.

At the time, state prosecutors said Lina E. and her three co-defendants — Lennart A., Philipp M., and Jannis R. — carried out a series of attacks on neo-Nazis in the eastern states of Thuringia and Saxony between 2018 and 2020, including two attacks on Leon R., a notorious far-right extremist who was himself arrested for allegedly forming a far-right extremist organization.

*Editor's note: DW follows the German press code, which stresses the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected criminals or victims and obliges us to refrain from revealing full names in such cases. 

jsi/lo (dpa)

While you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.