Sat 16 July 2022:
For pretending to be a Syrian refugee while preparing a far-right attack on powerful politicians, a German ex-soldier received a five and a half year prison sentence.
Franco Albrecht is guilty of plotting a serious act of violence endangering the state, according to presiding judge Christoph Koller.
The lengthy trial shed light on neo-Nazi sympathies within the German military, which the interior minister described as the biggest threat facing this country.
Highlighting the effectiveness of the security services in standing up to right-wing extremism, Koller said Albrecht harboured “right-wing extremist and racist-nationalist views that hardened over several years.”
They accused him of trying to blame his attack on refugees and undermine public confidence in the German government’s asylum policy.
Since May 2021, Albrecht had been in the dock at the regional superior court in the western city of Frankfurt and wanted to target leading public figures.
Albrecht — claiming to be called David Benjamin — managed to obtain a German residence permit and €4,000 in state benefits as an asylum seeker. He had reportedly told immigration authorities that he was a grocer from Damascus.
He was eventually arrested in April 2017 while trying to retrieve a gun that he had hidden in a toilet at Vienna airport. German authorities then launched an investigation when his fingerprint matched one registered as an asylum-seeker.
The targets of his attack allegedly included former German justice minister Heiko Maas, former deputy Bundestag speaker Claudia Roth and a Jewish human rights activist.
This is the first case of a member of the armed forces being charged with organizing a terrorist attack in post-World War II Germany.
The German military suspended Albrecht after he was charged and is anticipated to be discharged should the conviction be upheld.
In a bid to expose what he called the deep flaws in the system, Albrecht darkened his skin with makeup to pose as a penniless refugee and hoodwinked immigration officials for 15 months.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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