A good seven months after the fatal shots at two police officers in the Palatinate, an investigative team processed more than 1,700 indications of hate and hate speech on the Internet in connection with the crime. After an initial check, 767 hate comments were passed on to the general public prosecutor’s office in Koblenz, the State Criminal Police Office (LKA) of Rhineland-Palatinate said in response to a dpa request in Mainz. In 539 cases, criminal liability was confirmed and investigations were started. In addition, there are also investigations into “likers” of hate comments, the LKA said.
At the end of January, a police candidate (24) and a police commissioner (29) were shot dead during a vehicle check near Kusel (Palatinate). The trial against a 39-year-old who is said to have murdered the two officials to cover up poaching is currently taking place at the Kaiserslautern district court. An accomplice (33) is accused of attempting to thwart criminal prosecution. He is said to have helped cover up the tracks. The act of violence had caused nationwide horror.
According to an LKA spokesman, 412 authors of hate comments are currently being investigated, some of whom are said to have posted several hate comments. 271 of them have been identified. The majority of the offenses constitute the criminal offense of rewarding and condoning criminal offenses or denigrating the memory of the deceased. The posts were distributed on websites, in social media platforms or in chat groups.
