Nicholas Welker, also known as "King ov Wrath", leader of a supremacist group in San José, was arrested last Tuesday, after being denounced in Brooklyn federal court for conspiring and making death threats against a journalist. .
According to the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, the complaint accuses Welker, a former leader of the Feuerkrieg Division "FKD," an international racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist group, of publishing Death threats against a Brooklyn-based journalist in an online public forum.
Welker's supporters also tweeted death threats against the journalist for reporting on the extremist group.
"As alleged, Nicholas Welker used threats of violence in an effort to prevent a journalist from reporting on the white supremacist hate group he led. He tried to stifle free speech and intimidate and intimidate a journalist and the journalist's employer, a well-known media organization,” said US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Breon Peace.
"We will not hesitate to prosecute those who threaten the fundamental values on which our society was founded, including the freedom of the press," he added.
Peace highlighted the investigative work of the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ?FBI, for its acronym in English?, the New York City Police Department and more than 50 federal agencies, state and local agencies, as well as the FBI San Francisco Field Office.
"As alleged, Mr. Welker and those he encouraged attempted to silence a journalist with threats of violence. Both freedom of speech and freedom of the press are an integral part of our nation, and we will not allow it to be curtailed through violence or intimidation. Today's action serves as a reminder to anyone willing to attack these rights: The FBI will do everything in our power to fulfill our mission to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution," stated Michael J. Driscoll, Deputy Director in Charge of the FBI in New York.
Welker's threat included an image showing a gun pointed at the journalist's head with the words "Race Traitor" while over the journalist's eyes it read "JOURNALIST, FUCK YOU! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED."
The threat stresses that the journalist "works as a reporter" at a media company and is "responsible for harassing our boys for information."
After Welker posted the threat on an online forum, Welker's two underage co-conspirators ?who were also members of the white supremacist group? they tweeted the threat directly on the journalist's Twitter handle, hoping that the journalist would see the death threat and stop reporting.
As alleged in the complaint, Welker was the leader of an extremist group whose members share a common goal of challenging the law, social order and the government through terrorism and other violent acts, the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District said. from New York.
Said FKD supremacist organization with members at home and abroad, encourages attacks against racial minorities, the Jewish community, the LGBTQ+ community, the US government, journalists and critical infrastructure.
If convicted, Welker would face a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
This publication was supported in whole or part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.
You may be interested in: Peter Pan and Wendy
