ZAGREB, Dec 8, 2020 – The far-right political scene in Germany obtained weapons through arms dealers in Croatia, the German ZDF public broadcaster said on Tuesday.
Prosecutors in Munich have indicted a 47-year-old Alexander R. for buying weapons in Croatia for the far-right in Germany, says ZDF’s Frontal21 political magazine.
The main suspect and several clients have been found to possess a number of weapons, including pump-guns, and more than 200 pieces of ammunition, a representative for the prosecution, Klaus Ruhland, told ZDF.
The persons in whose hands the weapons have ended up can be considered part of the far-right political scene, Ruhland said.
Among them are members of the Citizens of the Reich, a movement which does not recognise Germany’s constitutional order.
German investigators found Alexander R. based on information from Croatian investigators who during a search in 2018 discovered a larger quantity of weapons intended for clients in Germany.
In a TV report, ZDF reporters talk to a number of people in the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia who have already served a part of their prison terms for possession and sale of illegal arms.
In the report, the interviewees say that the weapons come from Serbia but that some of them originate from the period of the 1991-95 Homeland War.
The main suspect, Alexander R., used to be an active member of the far-right NPD party, and by 2016 at the latest he was a member of the right-wing populist AfD party.
Croatian investigators told their German colleagues that Alexander R. was buying weapons in Croatia and that, according to an eyewitness’s account, he said that it was intended for the AfD.
The Munich AfD branch said in a statement that it had never offered or bought illegal weapons.
Before his extradition to Germany in September, Alexander R. lived in a Croatian port city.
