The scandal surrounding right-wing extremist chat groups in the Hessian police is widening. A total of 49 active officials from different departments are said to have participated in the chats, said Hesse's Interior Minister Peter Beuth (CDU) in the state parliament on Tuesday evening. Beuth had previously put the number of active officials who are said to have participated in right-wing extremist chats at 19, all of whom were members of the Special Operations Command (SEK) in Frankfurt. According to Beuth, the 49 officers now accused are predominantly SEK forces, the others came from the State Criminal Police Office (LKA), the riot police, the State Police Headquarters, as well as the East and South Hesse praesidia and other units of the Frankfurt Presidium. According to Beuth, people also took part in the chatsthose who have left the police force, as well as those who have never been employed by the police. 24 of these 56 participants will not be prosecuted, not even disciplinary, said Beuth.

Julian Staib

Political correspondent for Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland based in Wiesbaden.

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    Last week it became known that the Frankfurt public prosecutor's office was investigating 19 active SEK officials and a former official on the basis of right-wing extremist chats. They are said to have sent each other photos of Hitler and swastikas. Supervisors are also said to have participated in the chats and not prevented them. The investigators became aware of the chats about another case: the Mainz public prosecutor's office had investigated one of the officers involved because of the possession and distribution of child pornography. The right-wing extremist chats were found on the accused's mobile phone. During searches of the homes and workplaces of six SEK officers, additional cell phones were then confiscated. In this way, the investigators apparently came across other accused.

    According to Beuth, the current number of accused is also an interim result.

    Almost 18,000 chats were evaluated.

    Material that was seized during searches last week will be further evaluated.

    Last week after the case became known, the Minister of the Interior dissolved the Frankfurt SEK and announced that he would also check the location in Kassel.

    The remaining SEK officers from Frankfurt have been transferred to the riot police in Mainz-Kastel, which is understood within the police as a demotion.

    The opposition reacted with harsh criticism to the spread of the scandal. "In fact, it is the feared right-wing police network that has been uncovered here," said the domestic policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group in the Hessian state parliament, Stefan Müller, on Wednesday. Müller accused Interior Minister Beuth of providing “only little information”. Beuth had "failed to establish an error culture for years, and is not living this error culture himself," says Müller. SPD parliamentary group leader Nancy Faeser said the minister's statement shows that it is a much larger dimension than previously known. In addition, the question arises as to why the LKA Hessen is conducting the investigation, although two of its officials are also being prosecuted in the case. From the Greens, who govern Hesse together with the CDU,it said on Wednesday: "There mustn't be a continuation like this."