The charges against the four defendants, all Russian nationals, whose trial begins on Monday at the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court in the northern German city of Hamburg are serious. They are accused of being members of a foreign criminal organization and of supporting a foreign terrorist organization. More specifically, they are alleged to have used social networks to assemble donations for the extremist , or IS. They allegedly collected a total of €174,000 ($197,000).
For many years, the danger posed by Islamist extremists in Germany was considered a threat to the country, especially in the period following the September 11 attacks on the US in 2001.
Since then, far-right violence and crime have become a bigger threat, according to the authorities. But the remains high, says Konstantin von Notz from the Green Party faction in the German parliament.
The expert on interior policy is also the chair of the Parliamentary Oversight Panel, which is responsible for monitoring Germany’s intelligence agencies. “Islamist [extremist] acts continue to pose a very serious security threat to our country,” he told DW. “I expressly welcome the fact that the law enforcement authorities are taking a very close look at the funding of terrorism and are resolutely following up on leads. This is extremely important, especially in view of the many different threats to our democracy at the moment.”
Majority of politically-motivated crimes by far right
Last week, the new , from the conservative , stated that the threat posed by Islamist extremists remained significant as he presented a report into crime in Berlin. He said the number of crimes that could be described as being politically motivated in the broadest sense had risen sharply and that the authorities had registered more than 84,000 such crimes in 2024, a good 40% more than in the previous year.
According to the report, the majority of these crimes were committed by right-wing extremists and right-wing radicals. Many were also allegedly motivated by antisemitism, particularly since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023.
The report found that the number of has remained constant for years. This was also confirmed by the number of violent offenses: Of the 4,107 politically-motivated violent crimes reported, the proportion of those perpetrated by people with a far-right background was particularly high. Some 975 violent crimes were attributed to “foreign ideology.”
Accused of collecting funds for IS
There are currently regarding the collection of donations for IS before the German courts. At the beginning of April, the trial of two suspected supporters of the extremist group began in the southern city of Stuttgart. The 34-year-old German suspect and the 29-year-old Syrian suspect are accused of passing on donations to the IS group. Their trial is expected to last until September.
This month, a 28-year-old man was convicted of a similar offense in the central German city of Frankfurt am Main. The Higher Regional Court ruled on May 21 that it had been proven that the suspect had transferred around €4,200 to IS between May 2020 and August 2021. In this case, there was a call for donations on social media platforms and messaging apps such as Telegram. The recipients were purportedly the wives and children of IS fighters who are detained in two camps in northern Syria. The money was allegedly transferred to IS members in Syria via financial agents in Turkey.
Focus on Europe
In 2023, Germany’s domestic intelligence service, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, estimated the number of people in Germany with close ties to extreme Islamist movements at 27,200. “The focus of terrorist jihadist organizations and especially of IS but also of is still and increasingly on Europe, and thus on Germany too,” it stated in a report that can be found on its website.
“Currently, ISKP [Islamic State Khorasan Province, the IS branch in Afghanistan] seems to be the strongest regional branch of IS. After ISKP had so far focused on carrying out attacks in Afghanistan, there are more and more indications to suggest that Germany and Europe are now also regarded as potential targets for attacks,” the report also states.
This could also be why the number of citizens from or the Caucasus region who are active for the IS group in , not only by committing violent acts but collecting donations, seems to be increasing.
This article was originally written in German.
The post 4 Russians suspected of supporting IS on trial in Germany appeared first on Deutsche Welle.
