Violence among Eritreans in Germany: Two Eritrean government opponents in custody

Membership in a domestic terrorist organization - this is the accusation made by the Federal Prosecutor's Office against two Eritrean men in Germany. The really big tool of criminal law. This carries a prison sentence of up to ten years. The men from Stuttgart and Saarland, one German and one Eritrean, were brought before the investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice on Tuesday. He implemented the arrest warrants requested by the Federal Prosecutor's Office, as the authority announced.

According to the authority's findings, the men were chairman and general secretary of the German branch of the N'Hamedu brigade. This is a global organization that has taken up the cause of overthrowing the government in Eritrea.

Eritrea is considered one of the most brutal dictatorships in the world. Almost 2 million people from the small country in the Horn of Africa live abroad. For comparison: the population is only 3.7 million.

The refugees risk their lives to escape forced military service, which, according to the UN, has all the characteristics of slavery - with the exception of the buying and selling of slaves on the market. The service is permanent for men aged 18 and over. For women it ends with the first pregnancy.

A refugee tells the taz: "We had to work hard in a quarry during the day and sleep on the ground at night, without blankets. The men next to me died of hunger and disease or were shot while trying to escape." There have never been national elections in Eritrea since the country's independence in 1993, there is neither freedom of the press nor freedom of expression nor an independent judiciary. Conditions in prisons are among the worst in the world.

The N’Hamedu brigade was targeted by German investigators because it also used violence in Germany in its fight against the inhumane Eritrean regime. This was the case at festivals by supporters of the Eritrean regime in Giessen in 2022 and 2023 and at a seminar by these supporters in Stuttgart in 2023.

Senior military officials and politicians from Eritrea were flown in for the events. According to the critics, military service was also promoted among Eritreans living in Germany and funds were collected for the regime, something the organizers themselves deny.

According to the federal prosecutor's office, officials from N'Hamedu's brigade called for potentially lethal violence. Particularly German police officers who protected the events and were therefore perceived by the brigade's supporters as supporters of the dictatorship in Eritrea were injured, some of them seriously.

The two arrested men are said to have played a key role in setting up the structures of the N'Hamedu Brigade in Germany and in organizing the violent actions. One of the men is said to have been directly involved in the riots and is also accused of breach of the peace. According to the Federal Prosecutor's Office, in the summer of 2024, the N'Hamedu Germany Brigade announced that it would refrain from violence outside Eritrea in the future.

In the context of the investigation against the group, the Federal Prosecutor's Office searched 19 properties in 6 different federal states in March 2025, including the apartments of the two men who have now been arrested. At that time, however, according to the taz's findings, investigators also targeted two women in their 60s who had only registered and organized peaceful demonstrations against the regime. One of these women had to be treated in a hospital after her home was searched.

The Munich lawyer Rita Drar represents a man whose house was also searched at the time and who has since been sentenced to prison for a serious breach of the peace. He took part in the violent protests in Stuttgart. The lawyer criticizes the fact that the investigators in Germany only take action against opponents of the Eritrean government, but not against its supporters.

“It is swept under the carpet that government supporters celebrate festivals under the guise of culture and collect money for the internationally sanctioned regime,” she tells the taz. “There is definitely evidence of crimes here, the investigators should take a closer look.”

Eritrea maintains a group of thugs in the diaspora called Eri-Blood. A 2017 study by the Dutch Foreign Ministry attributes crimes across Europe, such as arson, to it. In Germany, however, investigations are difficult.

The taz has received reports from two Eritrean government opponents who said they were beaten by government supporters in Germany. They filed a criminal complaint, but the investigation was closed. Their names should not be published in the newspaper.

Video journalist Joachim Schäfer, who reports critically on Eritrean regime events, says he was attacked twice by regime thugs while filming. Once he was almost run over by a car.