extremism
Prince Reuss and the coup plans: Reich citizen trial begins
Masked police officers lead Henry XIII in December 2022. Prince Reuss in Frankfurt am Main to a police vehicle. photo
© Boris Roessler/dpa
According to the indictment, they wanted to create a new order, a new Germany, through a coup: the alleged “Reich citizens” around Prince Reuss are now coming to court. A piece of judicial history begins.
It’s material so unbelievable that it’s actually only suitable for films: violent men, ex-soldiers, a politician, united by their hatred of the state order, who get hundreds of weapons, draw up lists of enemies, storm the Reichstag and overthrow the Federal Republic want. These are the allegations against the alleged “Reich citizens” around Henry XIII. prince Reuss.
The first trial against the group begins next week in Stuttgart. In the strictly secured hall of the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court in Stammheim, where the members of the RAF terrorist group once had to stand trial, judicial history is being written again. “This is one of the largest state security proceedings in the history of the Federal Republic,” says the President of the Higher Regional Court, Andreas Singer.
Massive arsenal of weapons for coup plans?
Review: In December 2022, police officers stormed apartments and houses in several federal states and abroad. Suspected “Reich citizens” around Reuss are said to have planned a violent overthrow in Germany. Result of the large-scale anti-terror raid: Federal prosecutors indict 27 suspects. The accusation: They wanted to forcibly eliminate the existing state order in Germany and replace it with their own form of government that had already been worked out in basic terms.
The group is said to have had access to a massive arsenal of weapons and knowingly risked deaths in the coup plans. As head of state, Henry XIII would have. Prince Reuss should act. The former Berlin judge and former AfD member of the Bundestag Birgit Malsack-Winkemann should have been responsible for the justice department. A soldier from the Bundeswehr’s Special Forces Command (KSK) is also among the accused.
A transitional government should have negotiated a new political order in Germany with the Allied victorious powers of the Second World War. Because: So-called Reich citizens claim that the German Reich (1871-1945) continues to exist, hence the name. The Federal Republic and its laws do not recognize them.
Three parallel processes
The case surrounding Prince Reuss is so big that a higher regional court is not enough. “We don’t want to hold a show trial in some gym, but we have to deal with the individuals,” explains OLG President Singer. Therefore, the accused are divided into three main proceedings. In Stuttgart it is about the so-called military arm, in Frankfurt the suspected ringleaders will be indicted from May 21st, and in Munich from June 18th the other suspected members will be charged. “The fact that three higher regional courts are dealing in parallel with one and the same terrorist organization that has not yet been judicially identified is extraordinary,” says Singer.
The negotiations are likely to be complex and time-consuming. Defendants in one case can be called as witnesses in other cases. Each court must gather its own evidence and reach its own verdict. In principle, contradictory judgments are possible in the end, says Singer – although observers consider this to be unlikely. The expectation is that the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, as the prosecution authority, will keep an overview and hold the threads together. The Federal Prosecutor General is the link, the bracket, according to Court President Singer.
Nine defendants in Stuttgart
The trial in Stuttgart alone has dimensions that would exceed the capacity of most courts: nine defendants, five judges, two additional judges as substitutes, and no fewer than 22 defense lawyers. There are also the strictest security precautions: the defendants sit behind thick glass panes and can speak to their defense lawyers via microphone. Singer reports a total of 400,000 sheets of investigative files relating to the Reuss group, which fill 700 Leitz folders.
The defendants in Stuttgart are said to have joined the association in 2022 and committed themselves to the “military arm”. He was supposed to enforce the planned takeover of power by force of arms. To this end, work has already begun to set up a Germany-wide system of more than 280 militarily organized associations, so-called homeland security companies. The “Homeland Security Company No. 221” is said to have been responsible for the Freudenstadt and Tübingen areas.
“They’re not nice uncles.”
Important: The accused is presumed innocent until a verdict is reached. Referring to the Reichsbürger scene in general, Court President Singer makes it clear: “These are not nice uncles who have any strange ideas.” The growing number of charges against Reich citizens and right-wing extremists is part of a worrying social development.
This is also shown by the shots in Reutlingen, which the Stuttgart court wants to focus on at the beginning of the trial: Among the defendants is the man who shot several times at police officers from a special operations team with a semi-automatic rapid-fire rifle while searching his apartment on March 22, 2023 and is said to have injured two officers.