A total of 19 German police officers have been sacked from a commando unit and one other has been suspended over claims they glorified violence and made references to a former Nazi organisation in online chats.
Investigators in the western state of Hesse found out about the 20 suspects in the course of a separate investigation of an officer in the same commando unit, known as the SEK, who was suspected of sharing child sexual abuse images.
Senior Public Prosecutor in the city of Frankfurt, Nadja Niesen said that during an evaluation of the suspect’s mobile phones, several chat groups where criminal content was shared by members were identified.
German police and security Agencies have faced accusations of not doing enough to weed out potentially violent nationalists in their ranks.
This is a sensitive issue in a country where awareness of the Nazis’ World War II atrocities, including the murder of millions of Jews in the Holocaust, remains strong but where anti-Semitic crimes by far-right supporters have been rising.
An Intelligence Agency report last year stated that less than one per cent of Germany’s police force, security Agencies and military personnel espoused far-right world-views and sympathies.
The report was part of a wider inquiry into far-right extremism in the Public Service.
Prosecutors in Frankfurt said police had searched six locations in Hesse, including police headquarters where some of the suspects had worked.
Ms Niesen said three of the 20 suspects were being investigated for possible attempts to obstruct justice.
All but one of the suspects were active police officers when the investigation was launched in April.
Ms Niesen did not say whether or when charges would be filed.
Frankfurt, 11 June 2021
