German right-wing extremist arrested in Hungary

By Mehmet Yilmaz

BUDAPEST

Horst Mahler, a far-right German national aged 81, was arrested Monday in Hungary after reportedly attempting to seek political asylum, according to local reports.

Mahler wrote a letter asking Viktor Orban, prime minister of Hungary, for political asylum, a German newspaper Mitteldeutsche Zeitung said on Monday.

Mahler was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a German court in 2009 for inciting hatred and denying the existence of the Holocaust. He had been released due to illness in 2015.

He was among of the founders of the left-wing Red Army Faction before becoming a right-wing extremist in the 1990s.