The Federal Prosecutor's Office has arrested five very young people who are alleged to belong to a right-wing terrorist cell.

Following nationwide arrests and searches of a suspected right-wing extremist terrorist group, further suspects are scheduled to appear before the investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice today. The Federal Prosecutor's Office arrested five young people between the ages of 14 and 18 on Wednesday. They are accused of membership—and in one case, support—of a terrorist organization.

Three of the young suspects are already in custody. The investigating judge issued the arrest warrants for them on Wednesday in Karlsruhe and executed them, according to a spokeswoman for the Federal Prosecutor's Office. The other two still have to appear in court. Due to their age, some of the suspects had to be accompanied to the detention hearing by their parents.

According to the Federal Prosecutor's Office, the right-wing extremist group to which the arrested individuals are believed to belong calls itself the "Last Wave of Defense." With arson attacks on asylum seekers' homes and left-wing institutions, the group allegedly sought to bring about the collapse of the democratic system of the Federal Republic. According to Germany's highest law enforcement agency, it sees itself as the last resort for the defense of the "German nation."

The five suspects were arrested on Wednesday in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Wismar and Rostock district), Brandenburg (Oberspreewald-Lausitz district), and Hesse (Lahn-Dill district). Police searched a total of 13 properties there, as well as in Saxony (Leipzig district) and Thuringia (Altenburger Land district and Ilm district).

The Federal Prosecutor's Office attributes three brutal attacks and planned attacks to the group. Some of them are said to have been planned or carried out by the recently arrested individuals, and others by three other suspects already in custody. These include an arson attack on a cultural center in Brandenburg, an attempted attack on an asylum seekers' center in Thuringia, and plans to attack an asylum seekers' center in Brandenburg.

The legal age of criminal responsibility is 14. However, even after that, juveniles are not inherently criminally liable. The Juvenile Justice Act also requires a "maturity to accept responsibility." This means that the perpetrators must be mature enough to recognize the wrongfulness of their actions and act accordingly. The Federal Prosecutor's Office assumes this in the case of the four minors arrested. The fifth, at 18, is considered a juvenile under criminal law.

From the perspective of experts, the case demonstrates that the radicalization of young people has reached a new level. In recent years, there has been an increasing trend to the formation of young, violent groups, some of which are also in contact with small right-wing extremist parties, Reiner Becker, head of the Democracy Center Hesse, told dpa. There is also talk of a "return of the baseball bat years" – a reference to the skinhead culture of the 1990s and early 2000s.

Gudrun Heinrich, a researcher on extremism and political education at the University of Rostock, also reports that radicalization processes are now becoming apparent much faster and earlier. "All the teachers we spoke with tell us that things have become a bit more relaxed in recent years." Racist remarks, swastikas, and Hitler salutes are on the rise. Even elementary school teachers are reporting such incidents, Heinrich said.