Germany’s chief federal prosecutor has announced the arrest of a German-Polish national with alleged neo-Nazi ties who is accused of calling on the darknet for the assassination of top politicians and seeking donations for bounties on their heads.

More than 20 people were on the list of potential targets, including former chancellors Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz as well as judges and ex-government ministers, local media reported.

On his platform Assassination Politics, the 49-year-old suspect, identified only as Martin S, is alleged to have published personal data of prominent people as well as “charge sheets” and “death sentences”.

The suspect, who was arrested late on Monday in the western city of Dortmund, where he lives with his family, faces charges including financing terrorism, inciting others to commit a serious act of violence that endangers the state and committing the dangerous dissemination of personal data.

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