Germany sacks army counter-intelligence chief overseeing investigation into troopers’ suspected ties to neo-Nazi teams

The pinnacle of Germany’s army counter-intelligence service has been dismissed amid a sweeping probe into a whole lot of troopers for suspected hyperlinks to far-right extremism, the army’s newest effort to overtake the company.

Christof Gramm will go into early retirement subsequent month after main the intelligence group – recognized by its acronym, “MAD” – for some 5 years, the German Protection Ministry introduced on Thursday, including successor can be “determined shortly.”

The transfer comes as the newest shake-up at MAD, which has come underneath fireplace in latest months over its dealing with of investigations into greater than 500 troopers for suspected right-wing radicalism, some even thought to belong to neo-Nazi teams. 

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In Could, investigators uncovered a trove of Nazi memorabilia and a big cache of stolen explosives and ammunition on the property of a commander of an elite particular forces unit, the KSK. Lately, some 48,000 rounds of ammunition and 137 kilos (62 kilograms) of explosives have disappeared from the unit, solely a portion of which has been recovered. One month after the invention, an worker at MAD was suspended for passing paperwork associated to the continuing KSK investigation to a member of the unit, triggering a separate probe.

Whereas Protection Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer ordered one of many KSK’s 4 corporations disbanded in July – with 20 of its members suspected of hyperlinks to far-right ideology – she rebuked MAD’s work in rooting out extremists as “not passable” and “nonetheless not sufficient” after the newest scandal.

Although the Protection Ministry’s assertion asserting the intelligence chief’s departure hailed Gramm’s efforts to rein in extremism within the armed forces, it mentioned the initiative would require “further effort and momentum” going ahead, calling for a “renewal of group” inside MAD. The ministry additionally famous Gramm had been launched from his job “together with his consent,” nonetheless a report in Der Spiegel urged the transfer was executed primarily on the urging of the protection minister.

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The army just isn’t the one German safety company thought to harbor extremists amongst its ranks. Earlier this month, 29 law enforcement officials within the state of North Rhine-Westphalia have been suspended after they have been accused of sharing neo-Nazi content material on-line, reportedly posting photographs of Adolf Hitler and refugees in fuel chambers, amongst different issues. Although Inside Minister Horst Seehofer declined to launch a brand new investigation into German police, he mentioned a report analyzing racism in public establishments can be revealed on the finish of September. 

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