Another Spy Chief Quits as New Errors Emerge in Zwickau Cell Investigation
In the latest of a series of high-level resignations connected to the investigation of a murderous neo-Nazi terror cell in Germany, the head of Saxony’s state intelligence agency has asked to be relieved of his post. His resignation comes amid new revelations of mistakes made under his watch.
Since last year’s discovery of a neo-Nazi terrorist group that allegedly killed 10 people over a period of seven years, a number of grave errors by investigators have emerged. These revelations have recently led to resignations by top law enforcement figures, the latest of which came on Wednesday.
In a surprise announcement, the interior minister of the eastern state of Saxony said that Reinhard Boos, head of the state’s domestic intelligence agency, had asked to be replaced by August 1 as a consequence of mistakes made under his watch.
Germany is still trying to understand just how the far-right group could have committed their brutal crimes for so long with impunity, and Boos is the third high-level intelligence figure to leave his position over the scandal. Last week, Heinz Fromm, the president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the national domestic intelligence agency, stepped down after it emerged that documents relating to the investigation had been shredded while he was in charge. And the eastern state of Thuringia, where the terrorist group had its roots, has also sent its domestic intelligence chief Thomas Sippel into early retirement.