Expelled from the canton of Aargau: this is what is known about the right-wing extremist Martin Sellner

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He wanted to give a speech at a “Junge Tat” event in Tegerfelden AG, but that never happened. The Aargau cantonal police led right-wing extremist Martin Sellner (35) out of the room in question after a few minutes of speaking time.

The Austrian responded to the action shortly afterwards, emphasizing that this “must have political consequences for those above who made this absurd decision.” But who is Sellner actually and what worldview does he pursue? Blick provides an overview.

Supporter of neo-Nazism

Sellner made his media debut in November 2010 – the then 21-year-old worked as a system administrator for the neo-Nazi portal alpen-donau.info, which belonged to the far-right Austrian journalist Gottfried Küssel (65). As profil.at reports, Küssel was considered the driving force behind Austrian neo-Nazism. The portal was taken offline in March 2011 and Küssel was sentenced to seven years in prison. Sellner, however, was spared. The Viennese public prosecutor’s office did not provide any information about the reasons at the time.

From 2013, Sellner acted as spokesperson for the ‘Austrian Identitarian Movement’, which he was involved in founding. The new right-wing extremist group sees itself as a counter-movement to liberalism and believes that migration and globalization pose a threat to indigenous Europeans. According to the ideologies of the Identitarians, this ‘Great Exchange’ must be stopped. This conspiracy myth is also propagated by parts of the AfD.

Post-Finance Account

On March 15, 2019, a terrorist shot dead 51 people during prayers at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. Shortly afterwards it emerged: the murderer had donated 1,500 euros to Sellner and communicated with him via email. The money ended up in Sellner’s Postfinance account in Switzerland – Austrian banks wanted nothing more to do with the 35-year-old.

Postfinance blocked the account, but did not comment on the specific case due to bank customer confidentiality. Shortly afterwards, Sellner emphasized at a press conference that he had no control over who sent him money. The Austrian government subsequently banned the Identitair symbol and Sellner was banned from several social media platforms – nothing more happened.

Thanks Corona

The pandemic made Sellner popular again in 2021: the activist saw the anti-corona measures as an opportunity to expand his following. He appeared together with Küssel at demonstrations in Vienna.

Thanks to the emerging conspiracy theories, the Identitarians and their idea of ​​the ‘Great Exchange’ fit perfectly into current events – Sellner, who has since become active on Telegram, doubled his number of followers during this time to 66,300.

‘Master plan’ of the AfD members

How much influence Sellner has built up became clear last autumn: in November, AfD members and right-wing extremists are said to have met in a hotel in Potsdam (D) to discuss a ‘master plan’, presented by none other than Sellner himself.

The meeting was about so-called ‘remigration’ – that is, how migrants can be repatriated on a large scale. In response, the city of Potsdam has stepped up efforts to obtain an entry and residence ban for Sellner.

The Zurich cantonal police had already asked the federal police station for an entry ban against Sellner before the incident on Saturday. It is unclear whether Fedpol complied with this request.

Source: Blick