German authorities are looking for the 41-year-old for incitement to hatred by international arrest warrant. A team of journalists and private individuals has now found him and made his whereabouts public. Does he have to answer in court soon?
Hildmann at a rally in front of the Berlin Reichstag in 2020.
When a German reporter confronts him with questions in Turkey, Attila Hildmann is only taken aback for a second. Then the 41-year-old unwinds his anti-Semitic tirades. Germany is “occupied by Jews” and therefore only a “colony of Israel”. He possesses the truth while journalists spread lies, he says into the running camera of “Stern-TV”.
After extensive research, a group of private individuals and reporters tracked down Hildmann in Turkey. He had left there almost two years ago. He evaded the Berlin public prosecutor’s office, which had him searched for by an international arrest warrant. The authorities are investigating him for incitement to hatred, suspicion of public incitement to commit crimes and resistance to the police. Some of the allegations are related to his public statements about the corona pandemic.
According to the “Stern” reporters, Hildmann currently lives in the town of Kartepe, around 100 kilometers east of Istanbul. Your film footage does not give the impression that the person you are looking for is living there in secret. When asked, he says that the Turkish authorities know about his whereabouts and that he is Turkish himself.
But no Turkish citizenship
Hildmann is the son of a Turkish couple and was adopted by German parents. He was born in Berlin; Apparently he doesn’t have a Turkish passport. The Berlin public prosecutor had long assumed that he also had Turkish citizenship and would therefore not be extradited. Hildmann’s actual status has been known since April and the search for the international arrest warrant has been expanded, the public prosecutor recently said.
The former member of the Bundestag and Green Party politician Volker Beck has a personal interest in Hildmann coming before a German court. He had repeatedly threatened him and said that if he were “Chancellor” he would introduce the death penalty for Beck. Beck thinks extradition is realistic because Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has no interest in Hildmann. It is unclear whether the Berlin public prosecutor and the federal government are working towards extradition. The Federal Ministry of Justice did not want to comment on this when asked.
The “Stern” took Hildmann on the front page this Thursday. It says in capital letters: “Searched by Interpol – found by the star”. Journalists from other media houses commented on Twitter doubts about this representation. The German security authorities have long known where Hildmann is. They just had no way of having him arrested in Turkey. Rainer Wendt, Federal Chairman of the German Police Union, comes to a similar conclusion: «Accidents like Attila Hildmann often feel very safe abroad. That’s why they don’t really hide there,” he told the NZZ.
Confused diatribes
Deliveries usually take a long time. The authorities in the respective country could take criminals into custody until they are extradited. As a rule, however, this only happens if Germany maintains good relations with the respective country or if there are special contacts, according to Wendt. The role of the “Stern” reporters does not surprise the police union leader. “It happens again and again that suspects are tracked down by journalists abroad.” Unlike reporters, authorities have to proceed formally and often do not have the human resources to investigate.
In his previous life, Hildmann had made a name for himself as an author of vegan cookbooks and had appeared on television several times. Until the outbreak of the corona pandemic, he was Germany’s best-known vegan – today he is one of the country’s best-known conspiracy ideologues and anti-Semites. His appearances at demonstrations against the state corona measures turned into confused diatribes. The once popular talk show guest turned right-wing extremist and was able to gather a number of supporters.
According to the Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office, anti-Semitism is increasing in the German capital. According to this, investigators initiated 661 proceedings for anti-Semitic incidents last year. 131 of them concerned only one suspect: Attila Hildmann.