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“Knockout 51”: Members of possible neo-Nazi martial arts group charged

“Knockout 51”: Members of possible neo-Nazi martial arts group charged

They are said to have founded a “Nazi neighborhood” in Thuringia and tried to kill leftists: now the federal prosecutor wants four suspected right-wing extremists from Eisenach to be tried.

Federal prosecutors have charged four suspected members of the Eisenach neo-Nazi martial arts group “Knockout 51” with membership in a criminal and terrorist organization, among other things. Furthermore, the supreme prosecuting authority also charges the Germans with multiple dangerous bodily harm, attacks on law enforcement officials, breach of the peace, attempted liberation of prisoners and violations of the weapons law. The State Protection Senate of the Thuringian Higher Regional Court must decide whether to allow the indictment.

Three of the accused, one as a ringleader, are said to have founded “Knockout 51” by March 2019 at the latest, the federal prosecutor’s office in Karlsruhe announced on Monday. “This was a right-wing extremist martial arts group that, under the guise of joint physical training, attracted young, nationalist-minded men, deliberately indoctrinated them with right-wing extremist ideas and trained them for physical confrontations with police officers, members of the political left scene and other people considered worth fighting “, it was said. Since April 2021 at the latest, the aim of the association has been to kill people from the left-wing extremist scene.

Training in the NPD state office

The federal prosecutor’s office lists 14 incidents in its statement. According to this, the accused mingled, among other things, with “lateral thinking” demonstrations against the corona policy, wanted to ensure order in a “Nazi neighborhood”, broke bones and threw several people in various incidents – equipped, among other things, with quartz sand gloves that increase their effectiveness heavy stones against the youth and constituency office of the Left Party in Eisenach. The group, in which ten members were said to be regularly active, held their training sessions in the state office of the NPD. “Knockout 51” has also networked nationwide with other violent right-wing extremist martial arts groups.

The four men were arrested in early April 2022 in a large-scale attack on the militant neo-Nazi scene. More than 800 police officers swarmed out to carry out more than 60 searches in eleven federal states. According to the information at the time, the federal prosecutor’s office was investigating 50 suspected right-wing extremists. The suspects have been in custody ever since.

Source: Stern

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