Radical beliefs or actions - Halemba faces accusations for fostering hatred and laundering funds.
Recently, the public prosecutor's office in Würzburg charged Daniel Halemba, a state representative for the AfD in Bavaria. In a 14-page-long document, Halemba is accused of incitement to hatred, money laundering, extortion, attempted extortion, use of symbols of unconstitutional and terrorist organizations, and property damage. If convicted, these charges would fall under juvenile criminal law due to Halemba's young age, meaning the case may be heard at the juvenile court at the Würzburg District Court.
However, Halemba does not believe in his guilt: "The Würzburg Regional Court has already lifted the arbitrary arrest warrant against me, and I am confident that the Würzburg District Court will acquit me of all charges," he said in a statement. He believes the charges are politically motivated against the AfD.
The charge of incitement to hatred stems from the playing of "Wacht am Spree" by the band "Landser," which is a criminal organization. The song contains hateful sentiment towards the Turkish population in Germany, and it was played at Halemba's 22nd birthday party in July 2022. Halemba's lawyer, Dubravko Mandic, clarified that the prosecutor's office could not prove he was even present at the party in question.
Würzburg's parliament had taken Halemba's parliamentary immunity away at the end of April, coupled with the AfD Federal Executive Board's request for an expulsion procedure.
The investigation against Halemba had been ongoing for several months. In September 2023, a search took place at the Burschenschaft Teutonia Prag in Würzburg, a student fraternity that Halemba belonged to, and in October, he was arrested based on a warrant. However, this warrent was later lifted.
Now, aside from incitement to hatred, Halemba is also being charged with using symbols of unconstitutional organizations. He reportedly displayed a 1939 SS order in his student fraternity room.
In addition to these accusations, Halemba is under investigation for money laundering, property damage, and joint extortion. He has harassed a lawyer and damaged his office in the process, by the prosecutor's account. Halemba himself has filed a lawsuit against a state attorney from Würzburg and a police officer from Würzburg, accusing them of abuse of office. This lawsuit, which is currently being adjudicated in Bayreuth, alleges that the defendants coerced a witness to testify against him.
Furthermore, the public prosecutor's office alleges that Halemba transferred a large sum of money from his private account to an account in the Baltic region. They claim it was funded by fraud by third parties, and Halemba received a commission for this transaction.
The authorities have struggled to conclusively link a guestbook entry containing a "Sieg-Heil" inscription to Halemba, and thus dropped this portion of the investigation.
The legal team representing Halemba maintains their client's innocence, stating that the prosecution has already abandoned significant parts of the original investigation. They argued that even with the new allegations, he would be released.
In the meantime, AfD faction leader in Bavaria, Katrin Ebner-Steiner, claimed the allegations did not change how Halemba is treated. Until the complete resolution of the charges, the presumption of innocence remains.
In December 2021, Halemba himself announced he would step down from all party positions and temporarily cancel his AfD membership until his name was cleared. In a letter to the parliamentary faction, he also promised to stop attending plenary sessions, committee meetings, and suspend all other public activities until the end of the trial.
The opposition and the CSU faction in the Bavarian parliament expressed their approval of the indictment. CSU faction leader Klaus Holetschek referred to the severity of the allegations, specifically the incitement to hatred charge: "The Causa Halemba fits seamlessly into the scandals of the AfD at the European and federal level." Green faction leader Katharina Schulze echoed these sentiments, calling Halemba "a danger to our country." With his numerous taboo breaches, suspicious connections, and alleged criminal offenses, Halemba remains a topical figure in Bavaria.
