The chief of an jap European neo-Nazi group has been extradited to the US from Moldova following his arrest final summer season for allegedly instructing an undercover federal agent to decorate as Santa Claus and hand out poisoned sweet to Jewish youngsters and racial minorities, prosecutors mentioned.
Michail Chkhikvishvili, a 21-year-old from the republic of Georgia, was arraigned Friday earlier than a federal decide in Brooklyn on a number of felonies, together with soliciting hate crimes and acts of mass violence.
He pleaded not responsible via an lawyer, Samuel Gregory, who requested his consumer obtain a psychiatric analysis and be positioned on suicide watch whereas in custody. Gregory didn’t instantly return a message looking for remark.
Prosecutors described Chkhikvishvili, who additionally goes by “Commander Butcher,” as the leader of the Maniac Murder Cult, an international extremist group that adheres to a “neo-Nazi accelerationist ideology and promotes violence and violent acts against racial minorities, the Jewish community and other groups it deems ‘undesirables.’”
They mentioned the group’s violent solicitations — promoted via Telegram channels and outlined a manifesto known as the “Hater’s Handbook” — seem to have impressed a number of actual life killings, together with a college taking pictures in Nashville, Tennessee, earlier this 12 months that left a 16-year-old scholar lifeless.
Since 2022, Chkhikvishvili has traveled on a number of events to Brooklyn, the place he bragged about beating up an aged Jewish man and instructed others, primarily via textual content messages, to commit violent acts on behalf of the Maniac Homicide Cult, in accordance with court docket papers.
When he was approached by an undercover FBI agent in 2023, Chkhikvishvili recruited the official to a scheme that “involved an individual dressing up as Santa Claus and handing out candy laced with poison to racial minorities and children at Jewish schools in Brooklyn,” in accordance with the Justice Division.
He later instructed narrowing the main target to “dead Jewish kids,” prosecutors mentioned, after noting that “Jews are literally everywhere” in Brooklyn.
Describing his need to hold out a mass casualty assault, Chkhikvishvili mentioned he noticed the US as “big potential because accessibility to firearms,” including that the undercover ought to think about concentrating on homeless individuals as a result of the federal government wouldn’t care “even if they die,” in accordance with court docket papers.
He was arrested final July in Moldova, the place he was held previous to this week’s extradition.
In an announcement, Legal professional Common Pam Bondi mentioned the case was “a stark reminder of the kind of terrorism we face today: online networks plotting unspeakable acts of violence against children, families, and the Jewish community in pursuit of a depraved, extremist ideology.”
