A 54-year-old man has been sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison by a regional court for sending over 80 threatening letters to public figures. 

The presiding judge, Corinna Distler, found the Berlin resident guilty of a number of offenses including public incitement to commit a crime, threats, insulting insult, coercion, disturbing the public peace and incitement to hatred.

The Public Prosecutor's Office had demanded a prison sentence of seven years and six months.

The defendant, identified only as Alexander M., denied all charges and accusations in a final presentation.  He said he was a member of a right-wing chat group on the darknet but had not written the messages or committed any crimes. 

Between August 2018 and March 2021, more than 80 threatening messages had been sent by email, fax or text message. They were filled with insults and death threats. The recipients were primarily women in public life, including lawyers, politicians and journalists.

Some letters were signed "Heil Hitler." The name "NSU2.0" alluded to the right-wing extremist group that murdered nine migrants and a policewoman between 2000 and 2007.

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los/sms (dpa, epd)