Austrian Police Raid Multiple Identitarian Activists’ Homes, Including Martin Sellner’s

Austrian police have raided ten homes and offices of identitarian activists, including Generation Identity co-leaders Martin Sellner and Patrick Lenart.

The authorities seized Sellner’s electronic devices including his phone and computers, with a Graz prosecutor looking to prosecute the activists as a criminal organisation.

The announcement of the raids came from Martin Sellner himself, who took to Twitter saying that the police had raided his apartment in Vienna and confiscated all of his electronic devices.

Today my and @PatrickLenart s private flats were broken into and searched by austrian police. Also across they country they searched GI-offices and houses. An attorney wants to ban GI in Austria & put us up to 3 years in prison for critizing islam with peaceful actions.

— Martin Sellner (@Martin_Sellner) April 27, 2018

According to Sellner, who spoke with Breitbart London following the raids, the nationwide police operation came at the behest of the Graz prosecutor, who has been building a case against the identitarian movement following a protest in 2016 in which they hung a banner reading “Islamisation kills” on the roof of the Green Party’s Graz headquarters.

Sellner claimed that the prosecutor was looking to use evidence found in the raid to have his identitarian movement banned as a criminal organisation under the Austrian equivalent of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, article 278 of the Austrian penal code, as well as article 283 which covers “incitement to hostile action” against religious and ethnic groups.

Sellner rose to prominence across Europe and North America last month when he and his partner, author and political commentator Brittany Pettibone, were detained and refused entry to the United Kingdom.

Sellner had planned on giving a speech at Hyde Park’s famous speaker’s corner on the subject of free speech.

Thousands Gather in London’s Speakers’ Corner to Hear @TRobinsonNewEra Deliver Banned Right-Wing Activist’s Speech https://t.co/Qtag9bGF3b

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 18, 2018

The speech was rewritten while Sellner was detained for several days and later read out by former English Defence League leader turned citizens journalist Tommy Robinson to a crowd of thousands of supporters.

Graz public prosecutor’s office prosecuting attorney Dr Christian Kroschl confirmed the raids occurred with Austrian newspaper Heute on Friday, and said the activists were under investigation for the formation of a criminal organization, suspicion of incitement, and property damage.