Several house raids took place in Halle and Dresden in early March. These raids were part of an investigation into the destruction of hunting towers. Authorities are now investigating under Section 129, which concerns the formation of a criminal organization. This means that the broader circle of people under surveillance is also affected, and the full scope of the investigation remains unclear.
As a reminder: nearly a year ago, two people were arrested directly in the forest, and a search of their homes was conducted on the very same day. Numerous data storage devices and tools were seized during the search. The information obtained from these led to further investigations. Sometime between March 2025 and March 2026, proceedings were initiated under Paragraph 129—formation of a criminal organization. This constructed organization is now being charged with damaging 75 hunting facilities.
Finally, on March 4 and 6, further repressive measures followed in the form of aggressive house raids, seizures, and prior surveillance operations. During some searches, doors were forced open with battering rams without warning. Currently, at least five people are affected by the investigations in this case.
Specifically, this can mean that the phones of “suspects” are surveilled. However, it can also mean that the phones of parents, neighbors, classmates, siblings, friends, or coworkers are spied on over a long period of time.
Telecommunications surveillance, surveillance of private spaces and the workplace, bugs in cars and electrical outlets, and even government-developed malware can be deployed. Through these measures, authorities seek to uncover new leads for further investigative efforts. There is no requirement for close or ongoing contact with the individuals being monitored. Surveillance measures targeting third parties are often initiated simply because there was contact with suspects via technical communication channels.
There does not have to be a connection to the alleged crime, nor is it necessary for the communication to have any substantive connection to the alleged acts. The mere fact that contact exists with the accused person is sufficient to spy on other individuals. This is reminiscent of so-called “guilt by association.” For years, the state has criminalized legitimate and necessary climate justice activism and anti-fascism under Paragraph 129 of the German Criminal Code (StGB). Now this form of repression is also being applied against animal rights activism. There is much room for speculation regarding the reasons. Perhaps a criminal organization is being constructed here to enable more extensive surveillance and observation of those affected; perhaps because the accused were identified as left-wing activists based on numerous political messages found in the apartment during the first search in May 2025; perhaps because there are hunting enthusiasts among the police or in the Ministry of the Interior, or because hunters have good connections within security agency circles. Perhaps because the initials of the ALF were found on some of the damaged hunting stands.
In media coverage, the use of these initials is mistakenly linked to a constructed organization classified as a terrorist group by the U.S.
However, the ALF is not an organization to which people can be assigned, but rather a value system whose principles include nonviolence toward living beings and the exclusion of harm to humans and animals (https://de.indymedia.org/node/3135). Those who use the initials commit to these principles and the political goals of liberation from oppression and exploitation. When, as in this case, the narrative of the investigative authorities and the fascist U.S. government is repeated and militant animal rights activists are spoken of, the balance of power is clearly reversed. For the militancy here lies with the hunting community, which murders millions of animals and injures dozens of people annually in Germany, while animal rights activists do not harm anyone. The “dangers to the life and limb of those with hunting rights” claimed by the State Criminal Police Office (LKA) and the Dresden Public Prosecutor’s Office were likely fabricated to justify the construct of a criminal organization.
Therefore, the prosecution of people who oppose outdated, unnecessary, and extremely brutal traditions such as hunting can be viewed as part of an advancing authoritarian shift. At the same time, this development shows that investigative and law enforcement agencies are acting as political actors and pursuing an increasingly evident anti-left agenda.
This case demonstrates that the state is prepared to take increasingly brutal and harsh action against left-wing or supposedly left-wing individuals and groups. Following the investigations and proceedings against anti-fascists and climate activists, Paragraph 129 will apparently be used more frequently in the future to monitor, paralyze, and suppress state-critical and politically unwelcome activities.
In doing so, investigative authorities apparently succeed time and again in infiltrating communication channels, seizing data, and weaving wide nets of suspicion.
Therefore, secure communication is becoming increasingly important. This includes encrypting emails, chats, cell phones, computers, and all data storage devices.
Do not take photos of criminalizable direct actions with which you do not want to be associated.
Do not brag about direct actions that have actually or allegedly been carried out.
In general, do not talk about actions and only share information with the people it concerns and for whom it is necessary.
Do not discuss who is organized in which group or who did what! That is nobody’s business except the people involved.
Do not exchange sensitive information in chats, and discuss actions only in person without cell phones—or better yet, outdoors in open spaces.
We should recognize that this trial is less about the acts the defendants are accused of. It is not just about “damaged hunting facilities,” aka damaged property. It is also about the political convictions of those who undertake such actions and are thereby classified as people who attack the state and the capitalist mode of production and who hinder the elitist structures that the state seeks to protect by any means necessary.
Yet it is always individuals who are targeted. We are all meant here!
Solidarity with all those affected by §129 proceedings!