German citizen arrested for dark web death threats against politicians

By Thomas Escritt and Markus Wacket

BERLIN (Reuters) -German police have detained a Polish-German citizen accused of running a site on the dark web that agitated for the murder of prominent politicians, prosecutors said on Tuesday. 

Prosecutors said the suspect, named only as Martin S. in accordance with German privacy laws, had solicited donations of cryptocurrency with which to pay for successful hits on people to whom he had given "death sentences".

While authorities did not name any of the politicians or public figures he had targeted, Spiegel news magazine reported that former chancellors Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz, as well as other former federal ministers, were on the list.

The suspect, who was detained in the western town of Dortmund late on Monday evening, is charged with serious crimes against the state. Prosecutors did not address his motive or suggest he was working for a foreign actor. 

RISE IN ATTACKS ON POLITICIANS, CYBER THREATS

The dark web site, invisible to browsers not running special software, also contained instructions on making explosives and sensitive personal information about possible victims.

The website had been running since at least June 2025.

"The accused will appear before an investigative judge today, who will decide whether to issue an arrest warrant," prosecutors said in their statement on Tuesday.

German politicians complain that they are increasingly subject to attacks, both verbal and physical, at a time of deepening polarisation.

There has also been a general increase in the scale of cyber threats to Germany and other Western countries. 

Separately, Germany's cyber-security agency BSI warned in a report on Tuesday that companies and institutions were still doing too little to protect themselves.

Around February's national election, the number of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks surged 52%, the agency said, adding that Russia was one of the main sources of such attacks.

(Reporting by Thomas Escritt and Markus Wacket, Editing by Miranda Murray, Aidan Lewis)