Neo-Nazi Network Uncovered In German Prisons

[HuffingtonPost]

By Madeline Chambers                

BERLIN, April 10 (Reuters) - German authorities said on  Wednesday they had uncovered a network of far-right activists in  prisons communicating by secret code.                

Among the names on the network's address list was that of a  woman who goes on trial next week accused of a series of  racially motivated murders.                

Wednesday's revelations are embarrassing for Germany, which  has been shaken by charges that for decades its intelligence  services bungled the monitoring of far-right groups.                

The justice minister in the state of Hesse, Joerg-Uwe Hahn,  demanded a thorough investigation and confirmed inmates' cells  had been searched and letters checked in the last few weeks.                

"We don't want to repeat the mistakes made by security  authorities in relation to the crimes of the (neo-Nazi cell) the  National Socialist Underground (NSU)," Hahn told Bild daily.                

"We know that far-right criminals are trying to build up  networks and new organisational structures from prisons. We will  stop this," he added.                

A spokesman for prosecutors in Frankfurt confirmed they had  opened an investigation but declined to give further details. It  was unclear how far the network stretched across Germany.                

The aim of the new network is to offer financial support to  inmates and their families and to allow individuals to exchange  political views, German media said.                

Members communicated via code and hidden messages in letters  and small advertisements in magazines.                

"Prisons must not become a recruiting ground for neo-Nazis,"  said lawmaker Ulla Jelpke of the small opposition Left party.  "Nazis remain dangerous even when they are behind bars. That has  now been made all too clear."                                

BAN                

Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich praised the work of  the Hesse government and said its justice minister was doing  everything possible to ensure any crimes were dealt with.                

He noted that the government had in 2011 banned a right-wing  organisation to help prisoners and families which he described  as being a threat to society. With 600 members, it had been  Germany's biggest neo-Nazi group.                

Hahn said officials had found a list with the name and  address of Beate Zschaepe, the woman accused of taking part in a  neo-Nazi racist killing spree believed to have been carried out  by the NSU cell between 2000 and 2007.                

Zschaepe goes on trial with four other suspected accomplices  in Munich next Wednesday.                

The discovery in 2011 of the NSU, of which Zschaepe is  accused of being a founder member, and its alleged murders of  eight ethnic Turks, a Greek and a policewoman shocked Germany  and exposed shortcomings in its handling of the far-right  threat.                

An inquiry revealed botched investigations, failure to  consider racist motives for the killings between 2000 and 2007,  a lack of communication between Germany's intelligence services  and a failure to properly monitor members of neo-Nazi groups.                

The Munich court has itself caused outrage by refusing to  guarantee Turkish reporters access to the high-profile trial  .                

Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said on Tuesday the  controversy around the trial risked tarnishing Germany's image.     (Additional reporting by Joern Poltz in Nuremberg; editing by  Gareth Jones and Andrew Roche)

Via: HuffingtonPost

[Folami David]

German authorities are doing their best for their country and citizen's well being. This is how activists should behave