German soldier, arrested after threatening video, freed

After his arrest for a threatening video against the German state, a Bundeswehr soldier was free again on Friday, reported dpa.

The public prosecutor's office in the town of Traunstein in the southern state of Bavaria did not see any grounds for a formal arrest in the case, a police spokesperson said on Friday.

It was not assumed that the man posed an acute danger. However, he is still being investigated on suspicion of having publicly called for criminal offences.

The soldier was arrested late on Thursday in central Munich after he had made threats against the state in an internet video.

In the video clip, the man, who describes himself as a first sergeant, demands, among other things, the withdrawal of the state's anti-coronavirus measures and of the recently introduced requirement for mandatory vaccination in the Bundeswehr.

"This is a warning," he says. "By tomorrow" - that is, Thursday - a statement on the matter will be required.