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Neo-Nazi gets 7-year sentence

Neo-Nazi Martin Wiese awaits his verdict in a court in Munich Wednesday. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Associated Press
Neo-Nazi Martin Wiese awaits his verdict in a court in Munich Wednesday. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

MUNICH, Germany – A prominent German neo-Nazi was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison Wednesday for leading a terrorist group that discussed attacking the dedication of a Munich synagogue.

A Bavarian state court found Martin Wiese, 29, guilty of membership in a terrorist organization for heading the far-right Kameradschaft Sued extremist group, which collected weapons and discussed how it could stop the Nov. 9, 2003, groundbreaking ceremony, attended by Germany’s president and Jewish leaders.

“The goal of the group was the abolition of the free, democratic German order to be able to introduce a Nazi-style government,” presiding Judge Bernd von Heintschel-Heinegg said.

Wiese has been known to authorities for years as the head of a group of neo-Nazis that was active in protesting the U.S. war in Iraq and a now-finished traveling exhibition of photos documenting World War II atrocities committed by the German army.