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A newly elected far right German politician has been arrested for sedition and possession of Nazi materials after a tense manhunt over the weekend.
Daniel Halemba, 22, had been due to take up his seat in Bavaria’s state parliament when it began its new five-year term on Monday, which would have given him immunity from prosecution.
Halemba is one of the 32 parliamentarians elected for Alternative for Germany (AfD) in state elections earlier this month, in the hardline party’s best ever result in Bavaria. AfD is now the largest opposition party in the state.
Prosecutors in the city of Würzburg issued a warrant for his arrest on Friday, ahead of the new parliamentary sitting. Halemba could not initially be found, leading to fears he would evade capture and attempt to take up his seat to avoid prosecution.
Police caught him in Stuttgart, in the neighbouring state of Baden-Württemberg at 8am on Monday.
Halemba’s lawyer Dubravko Mandic said he petitioned Bavaria’s constitutional court to have the arrest of his client reversed. “He is an elected member of parliament and, in my opinion, he has a claim against the government and the ministry of justice that they no longer execute the arrest warrant,” Mandic told the German Press Agency.
Halemba had been in prosecutors’ sights for several weeks.
In mid-September, police in Würzburg raided the premises of the controversial student fraternity Teutonia Prag, after neighbours complained of regularly hearing members shouting “Sieg Heil”.
Halemba — a fraternity member and leader of AfD Würzburg — was on site during the raid.
Police said they confiscated a large amount of materials and that their raid “confirmed the allegations [made by neighbours]”.
Halemba told the Süddeutsche Zeitung after the raid that no “incriminating material” had been found.
He is one of five Teutonia Prag members now accused of sedition and possession of Nazi memorabilia — which is considered a crime according to the German constitution.
Katrin Ebner-Steiner, leader of the AfD group in the Bavarian parliament, accused investigators of pursuing a “politically motivated” agenda and of arresting Halemba “on flimsy grounds”.
AfD’s support in Bavaria has surged in recent months amid rising anger over immigration, inflation and a stagnant economy. The party secured 14.6 per cent of the vote on October 8, up from 10.2 per cent in 2018, hailing the victory as a breakout moment that demonstrated its pan-German appeal.
The far right party has previously struggled to gain traction with voters outside of its east German heartland. In those same October elections, AfD faired even better in neighbouring Hesse, gaining 18.6 per cent of the vote and becoming the second-largest political party in the state parliament.
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