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Neo-Nazi suspect in German official’s murder linked to stabbing of Iraqi man

The far-right suspect who allegedly murdered a pro-migrant German politician is believed to have also attempted to kill an Iraqi asylum seeker, prosecutors said Thursday.

Published: 19 September 2019 12:22 CEST

Neo-Nazi suspect in German official's murder linked to stabbing of Iraqi man

Suspect Stephan Ernst in Karlsruhe on Tuesday. Photo: DPA

Stephan Ernst, 45, a far-right militant with previous convictions, was arrested on the basis of DNA evidence for the murder of local politician Walter Lübcke on June 2nd.

Authorities initially said he confessed to the killing. But his lawyer later said the suspect had since retracted his confession.

On Thursday, Germany's federal prosecutor's office said Ernst was suspected of “attempting to kill an Iraqi asylum-seeker in a sneak attack for base motives”.

In the January 6th, 2016 attack in the town of Lohfelden, Ernst had allegedly “approached the victim unnoticed from behind, and then suddenly stabbed him in the upper back with a knife,” said the prosecution service.

“The deciding factor for the act is believed to be the far-right view of the accused,” added the prosecutor's office, which takes the lead on investigations into politically motivated or terror-related crimes.

The suspect, who was arrested in June, remains in custody pending trial.

Lübcke was an outspoken defender of Merkel's decision to welcome refugees and in 2015 drew the wrath of right-wing extremists by telling Germans who objected that they could leave the country.

READ ALSO: Suspect in pro-migrant German official murder 'revokes confession'

His killing has deeply shaken Germany, raising questions about whether it has failed to take seriously a rising threat from neo-Nazis.

Investigators have been probing the extent of Ernst's neo-Nazi ties and whether he had links to the far-right militant group National Socialist Underground (NSU).

The NSU killed nine Turkish and Greek-born immigrants and a German policewoman from 2000 to 2007, in addition to carrying out bomb attacks and bank robberies.

SEE ALSO: 'Hate has no place here' Hundreds rally in Kassel against far-right violence

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Germany arrests Syrian man accused of plotting to kill soldiers

The suspect, an “alleged follower of a radical Islamic ideology”, was arrested on Thursday on charges of planning “a serious act of violence endangering the state”.

The man had acquired two heavy knives “around 40 centimetres (more than one foot) in length” in recent days, prosecutors in Munich said.

He planned to “attack Bundeswehr soldiers” in the city of Hof in northern Bavaria during their lunch break, aiming “to kill as many of them as possible”, prosecutors said.

“The accused wanted to attract attention and create a feeling of insecurity among the population,” they said.

German security services have been on high alert over the threat of Islamist attacks, in particular since the Gaza war erupted on October 7th with the Hamas attacks on Israel.

Police shot dead a man in Munich this month after he opened fire on officers in what was being treated as a suspected “terrorist attack” on the Israeli consulate in Munich.

The shootout fell on the anniversary of the kidnap and killing of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games by Palestinian militants.

The 18-year-old suspect had previously been investigated by authorities in his home country Austria on suspicion of links to terrorism but the case had been dropped.

The incident capped a string of attacks in Germany, which have stirred a sense of insecurity in Germany and fed a bitter debate of immigration.

Three people were killed last month in a suspected Islamist stabbing at a festival in the western city of Solingen.

READ ALSO: ‘Ban asylum seekers’ – How Germany is reacting to Solingen attack

The suspect in the attack, which was claimed by the Islamic State group, was a Syrian man who had been slated for deportation from Germany.

A federal interior ministry spokesman said if an Islamist motive was confirmed in the latest foiled attack, it would be “further evidence of the high threat posed by Islamist terrorism in Germany, which was recently demonstrated by the serious crimes in Mannheim and the attack in Solingen, but also by acts that were fortunately prevented by the timely intervention of the security authorities”.

The Solingen stabbing followed a knife attack in the city of Mannheim in May, which left a policeman dead, and which had also been linked to Islamism by officials.

Germany has responded to the attacks by taking steps to tighten immigration controls and knife laws.

READ ALSO: Debt, migration and the far-right – the big challenges facing Germany this autumn

The government has announced new checks along all of its borders and promised to speed up deportations of migrants who have no right to stay in Germany.

The number of people considered Islamist extremists in Germany fell slightly from 27,480 in 2022 to 27,200 last year, according to a report from the federal domestic intelligence agency.

But Interior Minister Nancy Faeser warned in August that “the threat posed by Islamist terrorism remains high”.

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