Neo-Nazi admits killing politician in crime that shocked Germany

A far-Right extremist has admitted to killing a German politician, prosecutors said on Wednesday. Stephan Ernst was arrested last week on suspicion of murdering Walter Lübcke, a high-profile supporter of migrant rights who was found dead of a gunshot to the head at his home earlier this month.

The 45-year-old suspect admitted the killing under questioning, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

He said he acted alone, but he has a known history of links with the neo-Nazi scene and investigations are continuing into the possibility he had accomplices or the killing was organised.

Further details were not made public, but the German press reported Ernst was motivated by Lübcke’s support for migrants.

A regional politician from Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrat party (CDU), he was an outspoken defender of her “open-door” refugee policy

Spiegelmagazine reported Ernst was present at a 2015 town hall meeting in which Lübcke told the audience: “You have to stand up for values, and anyone who does not accept these values is free to leave this country”.

The speech was seized on by opponents of immigration. It was circulated widely among the neo-Nazi scene and Lübcke received multiple death threats.

His killing earlier this month was openly celebrated by far-Right supporters online, and confirmation he was assassinated for his political views will send a deep shock though Germany.

Burkhard Lischka of the centre-Left Social Democrats said the killing was proof Germany faces a far-Right “brown terror” threat and “must be a turning point”.

The opposition Green party called for a thorough investigation of the far-Right scene and police protection for politicians and volunteers who work with refugees.

Attention will now focus on whether Ernst acted alone or the killing was the work of an organised group.

His confession comes a day after eight men were separately charged with forming a far-Right terror group in the east German city of Chemnitz and planning a wave of violent attacks in Berlin.