Germany: Anti-fascist movement criminalised
01 September 1999
After the unsuccessful 1991-1996 mass prosecutions of anti-fascist organisations in Goettingen and Berlin (see Statewatch vol 4 no 4) Germany's public prosecution service, police and municipal authorities have started another investigation of anti-fascist activists. The latest prosecution is against the Antifaschistische Aktion Passau (AA Passau) and the related but broader based movement Passauer Aktion Zivilcourage (PAZ). The PAZ formed as an alliance to oppose right-wing extremist parties which have held regular meetings in Passau for the last 20 years. The right-wing Deutsche Volksunion (DVU) hold their annual party conference there, seeking (and often finding) contacts among right-wing elements of the conservative Christlich-Soziale Union (CSU). Support from the local press and administration is the norm rather than an exception.
The PAZ became active through a blockade of the federal election congress of the Nationale Partei Deutschland's (NPD) on 7 February 1998. The NPD is known for its connections to the nazi skinhead scene and related fascist attacks. More than 2,000 people attempted to peacefully block the rally of 5,000 right-wing extremists. However, a public exclusion zone which was created for the event, together with police efforts, enabled the NPD members to enter the hall. The authorities' response to this broad based opposition to the presence of right-wing extremists was unambiguous: the criminalisation of the anti-fascist movement as a whole.
On 12 May 1998 at 6am, federal, regional and local criminal police authorities broke into the houses of 28 anti-fascists and in some cases their parents in Berlin, Hamburg, Goettingen, Passau, Munich, Bielefeld and Muehldorf. Thirty-six "objects", i.e. flats, cars, a book shop and a printing agency, were searched and large amounts of personal belongings (estimates amount to ú20,000 worth) confiscated. In some cases, the police stormed in with guns pointed at the inhabitants, one man was handcuffed to his bed, several were strip searched. One woman suffered a nervous breakdown after she was threatened with a gun whilst her flat was raided, by mistake, it was later found out.
The charges were the same throughout: "formation of a criminal organisation" (paragraph 129 StGB, Germany's Anti-Terrorist Act). According to the police and public prosecutor, a "criminal organisation" had been forming in Passau since 1993 and prosecutions were initiated against 39 people, 32 of whom have been named only after continuous pressure by supporters. The lack of evidence to support the charges against the Passau anti-fascists (a lack which was mirrored in the earlier prosecutions in Goettingen) becomes evident when looking at the wording of the initial search warrants. Officers were told to search for:
"objects, that document the connection between the suspect and the "anti-fascist spectrum", that confirm his/her membership in groups of the "anti-fascist spectrum", that verify the extent of his/her involvement in the organisation of the "anti-fascist spectrum", that substantiate the existence of a criminal organisation, that might be connected to criminal offences committed by the "anti-fascist spectrum" in the region of Passau" (Search warrant issued by the Munich public prosecutor)"
The fact that the prosecution implied "cross-links to other autonomen circles in other cities" indicates preliminary investigations have also been running against the federal anti-fascist network Antifaschistische Aktion/Bundesweite Organisation (AA/BO) as well as the association of lawyers against miscarriages of justice which defends political legal cases, Die Rote Hilfe.
At the time of writing, the case is still riddled with inconsistencies and more importantly, one and a half years after the raids, it is still lacking specific charges. No judge has been appointed (due to the lack of charges) and the public prosecutor has been unable to answer various questions brought to him by the<