‘Ecofascist’ Sentenced to 2-6 Years in Prison for Planning Eurovision Terrorist Attack

( Breitbart )

A Swedish man identified by reports as an “ecofascist” associated with Nazi groups promoting a “race war” was sentenced to eight years in prison, with six suspended, on Thursday for plotting a mass murder using chemical weapons at the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest.

The event, scheduled to take place in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in May 2020, never occurred, as authorities cancelled it in response to the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.

Alexander H., who was 18 when arrested in Luxembourg, had reportedly built a bomb factory and possessed the chemicals necessary to create the weapons necessary to attack the typically highly crowded event. Law enforcement authorities reportedly found a Google document titled “Fun time for Eurovision 2020 — For a better and less over-accepting future” in his files, allegedly co-written with a Dutch suspect who was not arrested. Evidence from the suspect’s basement indicated that he had planned several other attacks on multiple targets in addition to Eurovision.

While it is impossible to precisely estimate how many people would have been the target of such an attack, the Eurovision Song Contest is the world’s largest event of its kind and regularly attracts audiences of tens of thousands of people. Its latest iteration, taking place in Basel, Switzerland, in May, attracted 100,000 attendees to its nine events, including performance rehearsals, semi-finals, jury performances, and the Grand Final, which is the ultimate live televised broadcast of the event.

In addition to the two-year prison sentence, which would become an eight-year sentence if he violates the terms of the sentence or commits other crimes, the suspect has been sentenced to undergo a “deradicalization” program.

“Public Prosecutor David Lentz had demanded a twelve-year prison sentence; the maximum possible sentence was twenty years,” the Dutch newspaper Het Parool reported on Thursday. “Both H. and Lentz have forty days to appeal the ruling. Until then, H. remains free.”

He would continue to be free if an appeal process begins. The Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that Alexander H. is currently living in Sweden.

The sentence received was tied to a verdict finding Alexander H. guilty of participating in a terrorist organization in addition to violations of local Luxembourgish laws regarding the stockpiling of weapons and dangerous chemicals, according to Politico. As the court issued only its sentence on Thursday, reporters are still awaiting a full court explanation for its reasoning behind the sentence, notable given the potential 20-year sentence available.

RTL Today, a Luxembourgish outlet, described the scene police found upon arresting the suspect in February 2020:

In the basement, they discovered a chemistry lab equipped to the extent that it would have required a Commodo Class 1 licence. The search uncovered not only active substances such as nitroglycerin and TATP but also chlorine tablets, which could have been used to produce chlorine gas. Additional materials for making explosives were also found. Experts at the trial stated that the materials could have been used to produce up to 1kg of explosives.

Some reports also indicated the laboratory was equipped to build explosives and contained poisons such as ricin. Chlorine gas is widely recognized as the weapon used in the first modern chemical weapons warfare attack and, while recognized as a dual-use chemical, is illegal to use in a battlefield context under international law, in addition to the obvious ban on its use to kill in a civilian context.

The basement in question reportedly belonged to the suspect’s father, who would have been underage during the time that several of the crimes he is alleged to have committed occurred, at a home in Strassen, Luxembourg.

Het Parool reported that Swedish law enforcement identified Alexander H. as an “ecofascist,” which it described as “the belief that the decline of the climate and the pollution of the planet are consequences of overpopulation, which this ideology claims is caused by immigration.” RTL listed two separate radical violent groups, “The Base” and the “Green Brigade,” that the suspect has been linked to. “The Base,” it explained, is a Nazi group seeking “to trigger a race war to establish a white ethnostate,” while the “Green Brigade” is an “ecofascist” group.

The Dutch newspaper noted that authorities in Luxembourg appeared not to notify their counterparts in the Netherlands about the threat to the massive event targeted in Rotterdam: “both the City of Rotterdam and Festival Director Sietse Bakker only became aware of the plot this summer via reporting in this newspaper.” Authorities reportedly did later claimed that Luxembourg authorities did reach out, though it appeared that Rotterdam law enforcement was not initially aware of the scale of the catastrophe reportedly averted.

Similar reports indicated that AvroTros, the Dutch public broadcaster that served as the local organization in charge of Eurovision that year, was also kept out of the loop.

The Netherlands was slated to host the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest as the winner of the last contest traditionally takes over hosting duties. The country won the 2019 competition, which took place in Tel Aviv, Israel, with the song “Arcade” by artist Duncan Laurence.

The 2020 Eurovision Song Contest did not occur due to circumstances unrelated to the terrorist threat. Authorities announced that year that they would cancel the contest as a result of “the uncertainty created by the spread of COVID-19 throughout Europe – and the restrictions put in place by the governments of the participating broadcasters and the Dutch authorities.” The cancelation was announced after countries submitted their competing entries, meaning artists had already begun campaigning for fan support to win. Among the favorites for that year were Iceland with Daði Freyr (Daði & Gagnamagnið)’s “Think About Things,” Russia with Little Big’s “Uno,” and Switzerland with Gjon’s Tears’ “Répondez-moi.” Who would have won the contest remains a topic of heated debate among Eurovision enthusiasts.

Many of the artists who could not compete, including Gjon’s Tears and Daði Freyr, returned for 2021, but were mandated to submit new songs to the competition given the exposure of their early work. While a favorite and allowed to compete, Daði Freyr ultimately could not compete in person in the 2021 Rotterdam contest due to Wuhan coronavirus infections among his team.

Little Big chose not to return for the 2021 contest, yielding their position to other artists. In 2022, Eurovision organizers expelled Russia from the contest in response to the government’s decision to invade Ukraine. Little Big’s members, outspoken opponents of the war, were ultimately forced to seek exile in the United States.

The 2021 song contest allowed only a small crowd of 3,500 people to attend, forced to undergo extensive coronavirus testing. In contrast, the 2025 contest in Basel allowed 100,000 people to attend the various rehearsals and competitive performances. Over 500,000 people attended Eurovision events in Basel in total, according to organizers.