Landser

[Edelweiss]

Court says Nazi rock group is a criminal organization

Thu, 10 Mar 2005
BERLIN - Germany's highest court has ruled that a neo-Nazi rock group is a criminal organization and upheld a three-year prison sentence for the leader of the band Landser.

The decision is the first in the country to treat a band as an organization.

The Federal Court of Justice ruled that Landser is bent on spreading racial hatred. Its leader, Michael Regener, had been sentenced to jail by a Berlin court in December 2003. The court said the group incited racial hatred and spread Nazi propaganda.

German courts have previously prosecuted individuals under laws banning Nazi propaganda and the encouragement of racial hatred.

The court's chief justice, Klaus Tolksdorf, read some of the band&#3
9;s texts. In reference to blacks, the band wrote: "They have a choice between a
noose around their necks or a bullet in their bellies." Tolksdorf also referred to songs that were demeaning towards Vietnamese people.

Two other group members had received suspended sentences of 21 and 22 months. They had accepted their convictions, but Regener appealed his.

Landser is an old German name for "soldier."


Also, a sensationalist article from Deutsche-Welle:
Germany Cracks Down on Neo-Nazi Music

[Landser is in the news again because Regener was appealing the sentence. It's crazy that a musician is serving a long 3-year sentence just for singing songs! How is a rock group a 'criminal organization'?]

 

[-88-]

Neo-Nazis gather for Berlin march

More than 1,200 neo-Nazis from across Europe are due to march on Berlin's Tegel Prison to demand the release of a jailed singer.

German neo-Nazi Michael Regener, aka "Lunikoff", is in jail for three years after a court ruled his band Landser was spreading racial hatred.

In March 2005, a German court rejected an appeal by Regener to have his sentence repealed.

Germany has strict laws against promoting Nazism or using Nazi symbols.

Three years ago, a Berlin court found Landser - meaning "foot soldiers" - guilty of spreading hatred of Jewish people and foreigners in Germany.

Landser's CD titles include The Reich Will Rise Again and Get The Enemy.

 

[Rasp]

Envoy: 'German Jews feel unsafe'

Envoy: 'German Jews feel unsafe'
The Israeli ambassador to Germany has said he is concerned for Jews in Germany, against the background of what he says is rising anti-semitism there

In a newspaper interview, Shimon Stein

said the number of neo-Nazis in Germany had also increased.

The interview appeared as neo-Nazi sympathisers gathered outside Berlin's Tegel Prison to demand the release of a singer jailed for three years.

A court ruled that Michael Regener's band was spreading racial hatred.

Michael Regener was convicted of spreading racial hatred

Mr Stein told the Neue
Osnabruecker Zeitung he believed there was a greater willingness on behalf of neo-Nazis to use violence.

"I have the feeling that Jews in Germany do not feel safe. They are not always able to practise their religion freely," he said.

ity:

He said tightened security had been put in place around synagogues and other institutions.

He said the fact that neo-Nazis had made gains in recent regional elections showed that these tendencies could no longer be dismissed as marginal.

Rising violence

More than 1,200 neo-Nazis from across Europe were due to march on Tegel Prison on Saturday to demand Regener's release.

In March 2005, a German court rejected an appeal by the singer - aka "Lunikoff" - to have his sentence repealed.

Germany has strict laws against promoting Nazism or using Nazi symbols.

Three years ago, a Berlin court found the band Landser - meaning "foot soldiers" - guilty of spreading hatred of J
ewish people and foreigners in Germany.

Landser's CD titles include The Reich Will Rise Again and Get The Enemy.

In February 2005, thousands of neo-Nazis marched through Dresden on the 60th anniversary of the allied bombing of the city.

It was one of the biggest far-right demonstrations in Germany's post-war history.

Last year the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) won 9% of the vote in Saxony, giving it seats in a German state assembly for the first time since 1968.

In May, German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble urged extra vigilance from the public to help tackle a rise in far-right extremism.

He said there should be no "no-go areas" for foreigners, as he presented an official report showing a rise in neo-Nazi violence in 2005.

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:Swastika2: Ein Reich , ein Volk, ein Führer! :Swastika2: