The unprecedented trial in recent times of nine alleged members of an armed network opened Monday in Stuttgart (southwest) under close surveillance. The suspects are suspected of having planned a coup in Germany out of ‘hatred of democracy’.
Aged between 42 and 60, the accused, all German, are the first of 26 members of this extremist network, dismantled at the end of 2022, to appear in court. Two other trials are planned in a few weeks in Frankfurt (center) and Munich (south) for the rest of the group.
The small group, nourished by conspiratorial and far-right ideologies, those of the ‘Reichsbürger’ (‘citizens of the Reich’), planned to invade the German Chamber of Deputies in Berlin to arrest the elected officials and was determined to overthrow the government. .
On Sunday, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser warned the movement: ‘We will continue to pursue them harshly until we have completely exposed and dismantled the militant structures of the Reichsbürger.’
The nine men called to the stand Monday are mostly suspected of having been in charge of the network’s military operations.
A prince’
The alleged mastermind of the small group is a septuagenarian aristocrat and businessman, Henry XIII, known as Prince Reuss, descendant of a line from the State of Thuringia.
He will be tried with eight other alleged leaders of the group, including a former far-right MP and a former high-ranking army officer, in Frankfurt from May 21. The small group was structured at the end of July 2021, with a political and military organization, with a view to a coup d’état.
The Reichsbürger movement brings together right-wing extremists and weapons enthusiasts who reject the legitimacy of the modern German Republic: they believe in the sustainability of the German Reich before the First World War, in the form of a monarchy, and several Groups of sympathizers decreed the creation of their own mini-states.
Shadow of Moscow
The shadow of Moscow also hangs over the plot. The alleged companion of Henry XIII, a Russian national named ‘Vitalia B.’, is in fact suspected of having ‘put the aristocrat in contact with the Russian consulate general in Leipzig and accompanied him there in June 2022’.
Henry XIII sought to secure support from Moscow, even though, at the time of the dismantling of the cell, the Kremlin had denied any ‘interference’.
The network had given itself the means to achieve its ambitions, with ‘around 500,000 euros’ at its disposal, as well as an ‘arsenal of around 380 firearms, nearly 350 bladed weapons as well as 500 other weapons and at least 148,000 rounds of ammunition, according to investigators.
He had also purchased other equipment, including ballistic helmets, body armor, night vision devices and handcuffs.
In Stuttgart, most of the nine defendants are suspected of having tried to recruit other people to their cause in the ranks of the German army or police, or among former members of these two institutions.
Among the nine suspects, Markus H. and Andreas M. were part of the management bodies, while Matthias H. and Steffen W. were responsible for military training.
Alexander Q. was commissioned by Marco van H. to spread conspiracy theories on the internet and aimed to create his own television channel for propaganda purposes once the coup was successful.
Wolfram S. was responsible for developing the group’s IT infrastructures.
A final suspect, Markus L., is also accused of attempted murder for shooting at point-blank range at police officers who were carrying out a search at his home in Reutlingen in March 2022.
For each of the three trials, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Munich, the courts have scheduled around fifty hearing days, until at least January 2025.
/ATS
