The judge described the verdict as an important signal to the public. Given the rise in politically motivated violence, he stressed that the trial was crucial to protecting democratic will-formation. The incident occurred on a Sunday in January 2025, when three Green Party campaigners were putting up posters for the snap federal election in Bookholzberg.
The defendant shouted insults such as “Damn Greens!” and “Green pigs!” at them, raised his right arm in a Hitler salute, and yelled the slogan “Germany for the Germans!” He then tore down a poster and struck out. When the victims tried to photograph him, he returned and hit one of the helpers in the head as he got into his car, causing life-threatening injuries. A local resident filmed the attack.
The prosecution considered the act right-wing extremist. The joint plaintiff demonstrated that the defendant was active in various far-right groups, including the Bremen hooligan group Standarte and its youth organization Nordsturm. He is also said to have been involved with the far-right Nordic Fightclub Bremen. Another investigation into a Hitler salute and an attack on teenagers at the Bookholzberg shooting festival in 2024 was provisionally dropped, according to the public prosecutor’s office. The defendant, through his lawyer, expressed regret for the act, said he had distanced himself from the hooligan scene, and has been in contact with the Lower Saxony Office for the Protection of the Constitution’s extremism exit program, Aktion Neustart, since summer 2025.
Source: www.zeit.de
