Man charged with threats mailed to top Luxembourg leaders

A man suspected of sending threatening letters to Prime Minster Xavier Bettel has been indicted by the Grand Duchy's investigating magistrate, Luxembourg officials said on Friday.

The arrest follows an investigation that started last summer after Bettel and Health Minister Paulette Lenert received mailed threats. The man recently sent new threat letters to Bettel, Lenert and other people, judicial administration spokeswoman Diane Klein said in a statement.

The 37-year-old man appeared on Friday before the investigating magistrate, he was charged and taken to the country's Schrassig prison to await further judicial action.

The criminal charges come as Luxembourg's government seeks to increase restrictions on people who have not been vaccinated against Covid-19, and as anti-vaccination activists push back.

A demonstration escalated out of control last Saturday as a group stormed into Luxembourg Christmas markets without passing through safety checkpoints and visited Bettel's home to protest against the government's Covid-19 restrictions.

Security and city officials responded by requiring demonstrations beginning this weekend to be confined to a specific and supervised zone.  The protest area between the Champ du Glacis and the Place de l'Europe was a move to avoid the property damage that resulted last weekend, Interior Security Minister Henri Kox and Luxembourg Mayor Lydia Polfer said on Thursday.

The government's approach led Amnesty Luxembourg to cancel their march on Friday for International Human Rights Day. The organisation said it feared protesters would take over its peaceful march and turn it into a further action opposed to the government measures. 

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