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Authorities in five European countries carried out coordinated searches on Wednesday as part of an investigation into a suspected far-right criminal organization accused of producing and selling sound recordings containing music that incited hatred and spread National Socialist, antisemitic, racist and dehumanizing ideology.
The Rostock Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania State Office of Criminal Investigation said four suspects, aged 55, 52, 48 and 43, are being investigated for alleged membership in a criminal organization. One of them is also suspected of acting as its ringleader. The searches were carried out under warrants issued by an investigating judge at the Rostock Local Court.
Investigators suspect the four formed a permanent association no later than 2020 and worked together in an organized division of labor to produce and sell recordings containing hate-inciting music.
German authorities searched premises of the four suspects in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Schleswig-Holstein and Bavaria. Searches were also carried out at the homes of eight additional suspects in six German states who are being investigated for alleged incitement to hatred in connection with recordings produced by the organization.
At a search in Reddelich, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, officers removed numerous boxes from a house, and vinyl records appeared to be visible through an opening in at least one of them, according to dpa.
Investigators also searched properties of 10 people who authorities said were not suspected of a crime but were closely associated with the suspects. More than 394 police officers took part in the operation, including a special police unit during some of the searches in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
The operation extended beyond Germany to Warsaw, Poland; Soinaste, Estonia; Čelákovice, Czech Republic; and Italy, with the international measures coordinated through Eurojust. The EU judicial cooperation agency said prosecutors and police from all five countries participated in the joint action. Eurojust also set up a coordination center to allow authorities to exchange information in real time and coordinate the execution of judicial and investigative measures.
In Poland, the authorities involved were the Circuit Prosecutor’s Office Warsaw and the Investigation and Detection Department of the Warsaw Police Headquarters. Estonia was represented by the Office of the Prosecutor General and the Police and Border Guard Board. Czech and Italian prosecutors and law enforcement agencies also participated.
Eurojust said the searches were intended to clarify and gather evidence concerning the existing suspicions. German authorities said no arrests were planned as part of the operation.
Neither the German authorities nor Eurojust identified the suspects, the organization, any record label or musical group allegedly involved. The official statements also did not name specific songs or albums under investigation. The investigation is ongoing, and German authorities stressed that the suspects are presumed innocent.
