German politician kept in dark over far-right threat: report

Police in the German capital Berlin allegedly failed to inform a left-wing politician he was still being spied upon by the far-right NSU 2.0 terrorist group, public broadcaster RBB and the Berliner Morgenpost reported Friday.

Ferat Kocak, a lawmaker from the socialist Left party in Berlin's state parliament, was left in the dark about the new threat, despite an arson attack on his car and family home months earlier.

NSU is short for the National Socialist Underground, whose members murdered at least ten people between 2000 and 2007. A key member of the group Beate Zschäpe was sentenced to life imprisonment in July 2018.

NSU 2.0 is an apparent new incarnation of the group, that has made threats against scores of German officials over the past three years.

What are the new allegations?

In March 2019, Berlin's Criminal Investigation Department (LKA) received an anonymous email from someone claiming to represent NSU 2.0.

The note claimed responsibility for an arson attack on left-wing politician Ferat Kocak's property more than a year earlier, in February 2018.

A fresh threat was made against Kocak, who was labeled as a Volksschädling – a Nazi-era slur meaning human pest and his family's home address was listed.

According to the media reports, Kocak wasn't informed of the new threat, despite police knowing that he had previously been threatened by right-wing extremists.

Germany's domestic spy agency knew from wiretapped phone calls that well-known neo-Nazis had repeatedly spied on Kocak after he spoke out against right-wing extremism.

The arson attack, which saw Kocak's family home damaged and his car destroyed, is being investigated alongside several other attacks in Berlin's Neukölln district.

Police have registered more than 70 crimes committed in the German capital between 2016 and 2019 targeting people known to be active against right-wing extremism.

What does the Berlin police say?

The letter confessing to the attack on Kocak's property was one of more than 140 threats made by right-wing extremists to politicians, media and cultural officials across Germany from 2018.

The Berlin LKA said the investigation into the threatening letters and emails was conducted by its peers in the western state of Hesse.

LKA said a "regular and intensive exchange" took place to assess the possible risks and that they didn't see an "actual threat" to Kocak from all emails that had been sent.

However LKA Hesse did promise to inform Kocak, but the politician says he wasn't contacted.

"I find it scandalous that the police didn't warn me after the e-mail from March 2019, despite the previous arson attack on my car," Kocak said.

A parliamentary inquiry into a number of alleged errors by German authorities in their investigation of the Neukölln attacks is expected to start work in the next few months.

Accused far-right perpetrators in court

In February, the alleged author of the threatening email about Kocak, Alexander M, appeared in court over the incident.

He's accused of sending 116 threatening correspondence between August 2018 and March 2021.

The charges include threats and insults, incitement to hatred and public incitement to commit crimes.

Meanwhile, the men allegedly behind the arson attack on Kocak's property are due in court soon.

Sebastian T and Tilo P are also accused of an attack on the car of bookseller Heinz Ostermann.

If convicted, the pair face several years in prison.

Kocak hopes that the perpetrators will be held accountable, but says their punishment will not restore his trust in the work of the police.

"The police let me down. It's not that easy to fix," he told the media outlets.

Editor's note: Deutsche Welle follows the German press code, which stresses the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected criminals or victims and obliges us to refrain from revealing full names in such cases.

Edited by: Kieran Burke