The Military Counter-Intelligence Service (MAD) is investigating two suspected right-wing extremism cases in the elite special forces command unit (KSK) dating back several years.
An officer and a non-commissioned officer were being investigated, according to security circles on Sunday after the newspaper Bild first reported on Sunday.
One allegation is that a KSK sergeant major is said to have attached the black-white-red Reich flag next to the federal flag during training as early as 2015 or did nothing about it. In addition, a lieutenant is accused of having distributed a “small number” of images with a right-wing extremist background via WhatsApp in 2014. Whether both cases are criminally relevant is still being examined. The cases were reported in September.
The federal and state interior ministers had submitted a model decree - albeit in June of this year - to take uniform action against the public showing of imperial and war flags from the imperial and Nazi era. One reason for the new assessment: According to the Interior Ministers, the flags are increasingly being used by right-wing extremist groups as a symbol and substitute for the banned swastika flag.
The KSK elite troop was shaken last year by several revelations about right-wing extremist incidents. Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) then ordered a fundamental reform of the unit. In March, a suspended KSK soldier was sentenced to two years probation for violating the War Weapons Control Act, the Weapons Act and the Explosives Act. The man had numerous weapons and ammunition stored on his property.