MP from the Alternative for Germany party - Halemba is accused of promoting hatred through various acts.
The prosecutor's office in Würzburg has filed charges against Bavarian AfD state parliamentarian Daniel Halemba. In a 14-page document, he is accused of inciting hatred, money laundering, extortion, and attempted extortion, symbol use of unconstitutional and terrorist organizations, and property damage. The relevant court would be the juvenile court at the Würzburg District Court, as Halemba falls under juvenile criminal law for certain of the alleged offenses.
Halemba has not admitted to wrongdoing. "The Würzburg Regional Court has already removed the arbitrary arrest warrant against me, and I am confident that the Würzburg District Court will acquit me of all charges," says Halemba's statement, provided to the German Press Agency. He perceives the accusation as a politically targeted assault on the AfD.
Incitement to hatred due to playing a song
The incitement to hatred charge stems from the playing of the "Wacht am Spree" song by the Landser band. The group is considered a criminal association. The song was played at Halemba's birthday party in July 2022. The text incites hatred against the Turkish population living in Germany. Halemba's attorney Dubravko Mandic clarified that the prosecution cannot prove Halemba's attendance at the party in question.
The Bavarian state parliament revoked Halemba's parliamentary immunity at the end of April. Concurrently, the federal executive committee of the AfD demanded an expulsion process against the 22-year-old.
The prosecution had been investigating Halemba for months. As far back as September 2022, there was a search at the Burschenschaft Teutonia Prag student fraternity house in Würzburg, where Halemba was a member. The suspicion of using symbols of unconstitutional organizations and incitement to hatred arose. In October, Halemba was apprehended based on a warrant that was later withdrawn.
Display of an SS order
The symbol use of unconstitutional organizations charge is now part of the indictment. Halemba is said to have exhibited an SS order from 1939 in his student fraternity house room.
In April of this year, the prosecution also took up additional investigations on suspicion of money laundering, property damage, and joint extortion. Among other things, he is accused of coercing a lawyer and damaging their office. Halemba himself is suing a State Prosecutor from Würzburg and a police officer from Würzburg for abuse of office. These proceedings are currently underway at the Bayreuth State Prosecutor's Office.
The prosecution also assumes that Halemba transferred a mid-four-digit sum of money from his personal account to an account in the Baltics. The money is alleged to have come from third-party fraud, and Halemba is believed to have received a commission for the transfer.
Halemba has strenuously denied the allegations. The AfD faction leader in the state parliament, Katrin Ebner-Steiner, stated that the accusation does not change their approach to Halemba. Until the charges are fully resolved, the presumption of innocence applies.
The AfD faction leader had previously announced in December of the previous year that he would step down from all party positions and suspend his party membership until the allegations were cleared up. In April, he informed the parliamentary faction in a letter that he also wanted to give up his positions in the faction until the proceedings were over, not attend plenary sessions or committee meetings, and also renounce all other public activities as a faction member.
Members of both the opposition and the government faction in the Bavarian state parliament welcomed the filing of charges. CSU faction leader Klaus Holetschek said, "The allegations are serious, especially with the topic of incitement to hatred." Green faction leader Katharina Schulze stated, "Halemba has been causing a commotion in Bavaria for months with his numerous breaches of boundaries, questionable connections, and the suspicion of various criminal offenses."
