German court sentences young members of right-wing extremist group 'Last Defense Wave' to prison

BERLIN -- A Hamburg court on Wednesday convicted and sentenced seven members and one supporter of the right-wing extremist group “Last Defense Wave” to prison on charges including attempted murder, arson and aggravated assault.

The Hanseatic Higher Regional Court also convicted the defendants of being members or supporters of a terrorist organization. They were found to have planned and carried out arson and bomb attacks on asylum seeker shelters and left-wing facilities, as well as alleged to have engaged in so-called “pedo-hunting” — hunting down people they believed to be pedophiles.

The young men, who were between 14 and 21 years old at the time, were tried under Germany’s juvenile criminal law and given sentences between one and a half to five years in prison.

The sentence for the youngest defendant — one and a half years in prison — was suspended, German news agency dpa reported. Wednesday’s rulings can still be appealed.

According to the indictment, it was only by chance that the people living in a cultural center in Altdöbern in the eastern state of Brandenburg were not injured during an arson attack carried out by the group in October 2024. The building was completely destroyed by the fire.

During an attack on an asylum seeker shelter in Schmölln in the eastern state of Thuringia, in January 2024, two members of the group unsuccessfully attempted to set the building on fire using pyrotechnics. They also scrawled swastikas and slogans such as “foreigners out” on the facade of the facility.

According to the indictment, three members of the group had also planned an arson attack on an asylum seeker shelter in Senftenberg in Brandenburg, but the attack was apparently prevented due to tips from a reporting team.

In June, two more teenagers were detained in Thuringia for alleged membership in the “Last Defense Wave" group, dpa reported.