Five Germans charged for operating neo-Nazi website

German prosecutors have charged three women and two men for operating "Altermedia." The website spread hatred against foreigners and denied the Holocaust.

Associated Press/January 18, 2017

Prosecutors on Wednesday pressed charges against 48-year-old Jutta V. and 28-year-old Ralph-Thomas K., key figures and ideologues for the internet portal "Altermedia."

Three others, a 54-year-old man called Uwe P., 63-year-old Irmgard T. and 61-year-old Tamara S. were also charged.

All five have been accused of being members of a right-wing terror group, inciting hatred and denying the holocaust. They are all currently free pending trial and will be soon presented at a court in Stuttgart, prosecutors said.

According to federal prosecutors, the website, "Altermedia" was the leading right-wing extremist internet portal until the beginning of last year, when Jutta V. and Ralph-Thomas K. were arrested and the website banned simultaneously.

Lawyers said the two operated the website as administrators together with a third person, whose identity was not known. The rest of the members joined in in the following months.

The website's servers were initially based in the United States and then in Russia. According to prosecutors, the two key figures, Jutta and Ralph-Thomas posted articles in "Altermedia" to "systematically" spread Nazi ideology among the masses. The website called for violence against foreigners and also denied the systematic extermination of six million Jews by Nazis during the Third Reich.