AfD MP: Halemba charged with incitement, among other things

The Würzburg public prosecutor’s office has brought charges against the Bavarian AfD state parliament member Daniel Halemba. In the 14-page document, he is accused of incitement to hatred, money laundering, coercion and attempted coercion, as well as using symbols of unconstitutional and terrorist organizations and property damage. The juvenile judge at the Würzburg district court would be responsible because Halemba, now 22 years old, still falls under juvenile criminal law for some of the alleged acts due to his age.

Halemba himself is not aware of any guilt. “The Würzburg regional court has already lifted the arbitrary arrest warrant against me and I am convinced that the Würzburg district court will be the next to acquit me of all charges,” says a statement from Halemba that was made available to the German Press Agency. He sees the charges as a politically motivated attack against the AfD.

Accusation of incitement by playing a song

The suspicion of incitement is based on the playing of the song “Wacht an der Spree” by the band “Landser”, argues the public prosecutor. The group is classified as a criminal organization. The song was played at Halemba’s birthday party in July 2022. The lyrics incite hatred against the Turkish population living in Germany. Halemba’s lawyer Dubravko Mandic stressed that the public prosecutor could not prove that Halemba was even present at the party in question.

The Bavarian state parliament had already lifted Halemba’s parliamentary immunity at the end of April. At the same time, the AfD’s federal executive board had applied for the 22-year-old to be expelled from the party due to possible violations of the party’s statutes.

The public prosecutor’s office has been investigating Halemba for months. In September 2023, there was a search of the house of the Teutonia Prag fraternity in Würzburg, to which Halemba belonged. There was suspicion of using symbols of anti-constitutional organizations and of incitement to hatred. In October, Halemba was arrested on the basis of an arrest warrant, which was later suspended.

SS order displayed

The accusation of using symbols of unconstitutional organizations has now also become part of the indictment. Halemba is said to have displayed an SS order from Heinrich Himmler from 1939 in his room in the student fraternity house.

In April of this year, the public prosecutor’s office also began investigations into suspicions of money laundering, damage to property and joint coercion. Among other things, he is said to have harassed a lawyer and damaged the door to his office. Halemba, for his part, is suing a public prosecutor from Würzburg and a Würzburg police officer for perverting the course of justice. They are said to have coerced a witness into testifying against Halemba. This case is currently pending at the Bayreuth public prosecutor’s office.

The prosecution also assumes that the AfD man transferred a mid-four-figure sum of money from his private account to an account in the Baltic States. The money is said to have come from third-party fraud, and Halemba is said to have received a commission for the transfer.

Halemba suspends offices and activities

Halemba himself vehemently denied the allegations. The AfD parliamentary group leader in the state parliament, Katrin Ebner-Steiner, said the charges did not change the way Halemba was treated. The presumption of innocence applies until the allegations are fully clarified.

Halemba had already announced in December last year that he would resign from all party offices and suspend his membership in the party until the allegations had been clarified. In April, he announced in a letter to the parliamentary group that he also wanted to suspend his functions in the group until the proceedings had been concluded, that he would no longer appear in the plenary session or in committees and that he would also refrain from all other public activities as a member of the group.

Both parts of the opposition and the CSU government faction in the Bavarian state parliament welcomed the indictment. “The allegations are serious, including the issue of incitement,” said CSU faction leader Klaus Holetschek. Green faction leader Katharina Schulze said: “Halemba has been attracting attention in Bavaria for months due to his numerous taboo violations, highly shady connections and suspicion of various criminal offenses.”