Far-right extremist on trial for killing German politician

Walter Lübcke, a German politician who championed refugee rights, was gunned down on his terrace in 2019. Now a neo-Nazi accused of killing him and another man charged with aiding and abetting the crime have gone on trial.

Police with sub-machineguns stood guard as the trial began yesterday of the first German right-wing extremist charged with murdering a postwar politician.

Stephan Ernst, a neo-Nazi with a string of convictions for violence, is accused of murdering Walter Lübcke, a centrist politician and champion of Angela Merkel’s liberal refugee policies.

Mr Lübcke, 65, was shot in the head at close range a year ago after stepping on to the terrace of his family home in the town of Wolfhagen. It is thought to have been the first political assassination by the German far right since the Second World War and heralded a wave of attacks, including the killing of nine people in Hanau four months ago.

Ernst, 46, initially admitted murder but retracted his

Source: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/neo-nazi-stephan-ernst-on-trial-over-assassination-of-walter-luebcke-cp7pdkxr2