14 German police officers under investigation for suspected far-right ties

By Anadolu staff

BERLIN (AA) - German authorities are investigating 14 police officers in the eastern state of Saxony for suspected links to the far-right groups, local media reported on Wednesday.

The police officers from the police stations in Chemnitz, Leipzig and Zwickau were suspended last year during the investigation procedures, public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk reported.

They were suspected of disseminating far-right propaganda, making racist statements, attempting to relativize Nazi crimes, and giving the outlawed "Hitlergruss" — or Nazi salute.

One of the police officers was believed to be a member of the far-right Reichsburger (Reich Citizens), which rejects the legitimacy of the German state, according to the investigators.

Saxony is currently the stronghold for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, and between 1998 and 2007, members of the neo-Nazi terror group NSU lived a clandestine life there, mostly in the cities of Chemnitz and Zwickau.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government announced last week a new plan to combat racism, and promised legal steps to dismiss right-wing extremists faster from the police, armed forces and public service.

The infiltration of right-wing extremists in state institutions remains a serious problem in Germany, and an official report in 2022 revealed that authorities had recently identified at least 327 right-wing extremists among soldiers, police and intelligence officers.