German-Polish man charged with calling for attacks on top politicians

German prosecutors have charged a man with calling for attacks on top politicians on the dark web and collecting donations for a potential bounty, according to a statement released on Wednesday.

Germany's top prosecuting authority accuses the German-Polish national of financing terrorism and and inciting the commission of a serious act of violence that threatens the state, according to the charges filed at the Dusseldorf Higher Regional court

The man was arrested in the western German city of Dortmund in November and is in pre-trial detention.

Prosecutors believe he operated a platform on the dark net where he called for terrorist attacks on German politicians, public officials and public figures since at least May of last year.

He is said to have published a list with names, death sentences he had pronounced himself and instructions on how to make explosive devices.

According to an earlier report by German news magazine Der Spiegel, the death list allegedly issued by the man included former chancellors Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz, alongside several former ministers.

Prosecutors also accuse the man of publishing personal data of those targeted as well as asking for donations in cryptocurrency, which were to be used to pay out bounties for successful killings.

Investigators consider the man to be part of Germany's Reich Citizens scene, a disparate collection of people who reject the legitimacy of the modern German republic, giving their allegiance instead to the German Empire, or Reich, established in 1871.

According to earlier reports by the Tagesschau news website, he was known to authorities since 2020 for his behaviour during protests against Covid restrictions.