German police have detained a second soldier suspected of involvement in a plan by an army officer and a student to carry out an attack, possibly on left-wing politicians who don’t oppose immigration, the federal public prosecutor said on Tuesday.
The federal prosecutor’s office named the third suspect in the case, which has shocked the country and prompted a debate about the depth of right-wing radicalism in the military, as Maximilian T., a 27-year-old German national.
Hit list prepared
“The accused is strongly suspected of planning a severe act of violence against the state out of a right-wing extremist conviction,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
The three had planned to carry out an attack and make it look like it had been the work of Islamist militants, it said. Former president Joachim Gauck and Justice Minister Heiko Maas were on a list of possible targets prepared by the suspects.
The first soldier and the student, named Franco A. and Mathias F. respectively, were detained on April 26.
The prosecutor’s office said in its statement that Maximilian T. had at times covered up Franco A.’s absences from military barracks, suggesting he was also a soldier.
