A violent German Antifa leader involved with a cell that beats targets with hammers has been arrested by authorities after being on the run for the past four years. Johann Guntermann, 31, Germany's most wanted "left-wing extremist," was captured and detained in Thuringia on Friday while riding a regional train near Weimar. The fugitive squad of the Saxony State Criminal Police Office made the arrest.

Authorities believe Johann Guntermann is the commander of the organized extremist group that has launched a series of violent attacks on right-wing political targets in Europe since 2018, German media TAZ reported. The attacks have been reported in Saxony, Thuringia, and Budapest, Hungary. The cell has garnered notoriety for brutally attacking political targets with hammers, smashing skulls and breaking body parts.

The Federal Prosecutor's Office recently extended an offer of up to €10,000 in exchange for information that would lead to Guntermann's arrest. Members of the violent Antifa cell are now demanding the release of their leader.

Members of the violent Antifa cell pose with hammers and a banner that reads, "Free Johann"


Guntermann is the former fiance of Lina Engel, a convicted Leipzig antifascist who was sentenced in June 2023 to five years and three months in prison over her role with the Antifa cell that has been accused of launching at least six violent attacks against right-wing targets in Saxony and Thuringia between 2018 and 2020. The court ruled that the cell was a criminal organization and determined Engel had a leadership role like Guntermann.

Other extremist cell members have also been convicted at trial, including Lennart Zaphod Arning, Philipp Jonathan Mohr, and Jannis Rohlig. Arning was sentenced to three years in prison, Mohr received three years and three months in prison, and Rohlig was sentenced to two years in prison. Their sentencing, combined with Engel's, sparked an organized terror campaign in which the cell took to the streets to riot over their comrades' convictions and inflict significant bodily injury on others, according to authorities.

Members of the violent German Antifa cell


Guntermann is alleged to have participated in attacks against right-wing targets after Engel's arrest. This includes a February 2023 attack in Budapest where the violent cell allegedly attacked political targets with hammers, metal batons, and chemical weapons, leaving their subjects seriously injured and drenched in blood, Hungarian police previously told The Post Millennial. The cell's violence mirrors that of Rose City Antifa, an organized far-left extremist group based in Portland, Oregon. The group is known for carrying out extreme acts of violence against political targets.


Photo shows a victim's injuries from the cell's attack in Budapest

German and Hungarian authorities are still on the hunt for at least ten additional cell members believed to be involved in the attacks who have also fled into hiding. German authorities arrested nonbinary antifascist member Maja T. in Berlin in December 2023. She has since been extradited to Budapest. Hanna S., of Nuremberg, was taken into custody by police in May over her alleged role in the Budapest attacks.