In Germany, on April 29, nine men from the so-called Reichsburger group appeared in court on charges of treason, attempted murder, and planning a violent coup dʼétat.
Reuters writes about it.
Todayʼs hearing in a high-security courtroom in Stuttgart marks the start of three trials of 27 people who are all accused of a plot that was foiled by authorities in late 2022. Together, these trials are one of the largest trials in German history.
Mondayʼs trial focused on nine suspects who allegedly planned to impose strict martial law in Germany after the coup.
The groupʼs political leadership, led by the so-called Henry XIII, will appear in court in Frankfurt next month. Another group of suspects, including an astrologer, will be tried in June in Munich.
Prosecutors say the suspectsʼ meticulous planning, their stockpiles of firearms and cash indicate they posed a real danger.
One of the defendants, named in court documents as Marcus L., shot and seriously wounded a police officer while resisting arrest, prosecutors say.
Nine criminals kept €500 000 in cash, as well as 380 pistols, 350 melee weapons and about 148 000 rounds of ammunition.
Judges have set a hearing in Stuttgart until January 2025, but given the complexity of the case and the number of witnesses and suspects, experts believe it could last much longer, possibly even several years.
The last such trial of members of the far-right National Socialist underground gang, which killed 10 people, most of them ethnic Turks, lasted five years.
- On December 7, 2022, the German police conducted a large-scale special operation against far-right extremists who, according to the Ministry of Justice, were preparing an assault on the parliament and a coup dʼétat. The police have identified more than 50 suspects. Subsequently, the German court sent 23 suspects into custody.
- According to the magazine Der Spiegel, then the prosecutorʼs office identified two coup organizers — the so-called Prince Henry XIII (who was assigned the role of the new leader of Germany) and the 69-year-old former paratrooper Rüdiger P. Heinrich, who is a representative of a noble family, was in contact with Russian officials, and the detained Russian citizen Vitalii B. probably helped him in this.
- In October 2023, the Reichsburgers planned to install a government modeled after the constitution of the German Reich of 1871 and kidnap the German Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach. They were detained.