Controversial AfD MP Daniel Halemba was found guilty of money laundering and intimidation. The Würzburg District Court’s verdict was accompanied by serious accusations of incitement to hatred, which were dismissed.
The controversial Alternative for Germany (AfD) party member Daniel Halemba was found guilty of money laundering and intimidation by a court on Monday. The district court in Würzburg ordered the 24-year-old politician to pay a fine of 190 euros per day for 160 days. The politician can appeal against the sentence, TASR informs, according to a report by the DPA agency.
Prosecutors charged Halemba with several crimes, including inciting hatred through a banned song promoting the expulsion of migrants from Germany, which was played at his birthday party. According to prosecutors, a song by the disbanded neo-Nazi rock band Landser was played from a USB stick belonging to Halemba at his 21st birthday party in July 2022. The band was classified as a criminal organization in the country in 2005. The politician knew the text inciting hatred against the Turkish community in Germany, prosecutor Tobias Kostuch said.
Charges and court proceedings
Halemba has denied all the allegations, saying he was not present at the party when the song was played. The court subsequently acquitted him of the charge of incitement to hatred and dropped the charges of intimidating a lawyer when his office door was damaged. However, the court found him guilty of intimidating a witness during the preliminary investigation before the interrogation by the Würzburg prosecutor’s office.
Authorities charged the man with money laundering in connection with a four-figure sum transferred from Halemba’s private account to an account in the Baltic country. The finances, according to the prosecutor’s office, came from a fraud committed by a third party. The politician repeatedly described the trial as politically motivated and in his closing speech accused the prosecutors of defamation and creating “connections with Nazism”.
