Germany jails far-right group members over attack plots

A German court sentenced seven members or supporters of the far-right militant group Last Wave of Defence to prison terms of two years and four months to five years on Wednesday.

The men, all teenagers or in their early 20s, were convicted in Hamburg of offences including membership in a terrorist organisation, attempted murder and arson over plots to attack refugees and left-wing activists.

The presiding judge said the adolescents and young men had absorbed far-right ideology and sought to “create chaos”.

Some of the defendants had carried out initial attacks, including setting fire to a cultural centre in Altdoebern in eastern Germany in October 2024 and throwing fireworks into a refugee shelter in Schmoelln in January 2025. Nazi symbols were also scrawled at the refugee shelter crime scene. Prosecutors said it was “only by chance” that no one inside was injured.

Police rounded up several suspected members and supporters in May 2025, when they were between 14 and 21 years old. Further raids targeting another 10 suspected members took place in March 2026, after the trial had already begun.

Prosecutors said the group chose its name because its members saw themselves as “the last line of defence for the ‘German nation’”. The trial was held largely behind closed doors because of the age of some defendants, and the sentences were issued under German juvenile law.