About a year ago, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office announced that it had uncovered a right-wing terrorist conspiracy. Now 27 defendants have initially been charged in a total of three higher regional courts.
It started on December 7th, 2022. Special forces from the federal police and from the federal states across Germany stormed homes and offices and searched cars, gardens and garages. 25 people were arrested in this first wave of access alone; two people were arrested in Austria and Italy and transferred to Germany.
Further raids followed in the weeks that followed. In addition to bizarre documents, the investigators found laundry baskets of weapons, gold and large amounts of money, computers, smartphones and special satellite phones.
Investigation team “Shadow”
The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), many state police authorities and some public prosecutors’ offices in the federal states had previously investigated under the code name “Shadow” under the leadership of the Federal Prosecutor General. Before that, the group had already been in the sights of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
The accusation against the “Reuss Group” was as outrageous as the dimensions of the case. There has never been a terrorism trial in the Federal Republic in which so many suspects were arrested in one fell swoop. The investigators accuse them of planning a coup.
The accused include well-known “Reich citizens” such as the alleged ringleader Heinrich XIII. Prince Reuß or the former police officer Michael F. from Lower Saxony. In addition, former and active members of the Bundeswehr, including the Special Forces Command.
The former AfD member of the Bundestag and judge from Berlin, Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, is also considered to be part of the core of the group. Investigators are convinced that their goal was to eliminate the constitutional order of the Federal Republic and to establish a new state modeled on the German Empire of 1871, with the prince at its head.
First charges in Frankfurt, Munich and Stuttgart
The group is said to have had far-reaching plans to achieve its goal, including storming the German Bundestag and detaining government officials. However, the group probably wouldn’t have gotten very far with their plan.
How far it was and what that means under criminal law must now first be clarified by three higher regional courts and their state security senates. The process was repeatedly criticized and ridiculed by the public. But it is clear that even a failed attempt to overthrow the federal government by force could have had fatal consequences.
The charges against the alleged leader Heinrich XIII Prince Reuß, the former AfD member of the Bundestag Malsack-Winkemann and eight other people were brought at the Frankfurt am Main Higher Regional Court. Another nine people will follow ARD information indicted at the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court and another eight at the Munich Higher Regional Court.
Around 40 other proceedings are currently ongoing at the Federal Prosecutor General. It seems possible that some of them will be handed over to the state public prosecutor’s offices in the future. But first we’ll talk about the three procedures in Frankfurt, Munich and Stuttgart.
Legal proceedings with a new dimension
This is also a procedure with a new dimension for the judiciary. Although it is a related complex, it is being prosecuted in three different courts. This has never happened before in the judicial history of the Federal Republic.
The fact that the charges do not go to a single court is probably primarily due to logistical reasons. A suitable courtroom would have been needed for such a mammoth trial – 27 defendants with their defense lawyers, prosecutors, court, media, audience.
This question was not easy to solve in the Munich NSU trial with five defendants. Negotiating a related criminal charge against a large suspected terrorist organization in three separate trials will be a logistical as well as a legal challenge.
As a first step, the three higher regional courts must now decide whether to admit the charges and open the main proceedings; whether there will be a trial in the respective courtrooms.
Bizarre and deadly serious at the same time
For the investigators, the Reuss trial is special in many ways. Not only the large number of accused, but also their goal of re-establishing a kind of monarchy in Germany is something new, even for experienced state security investigators.
The investigators found documents about what this new state structure should have looked like – and listened to plans on the phone. The group probably wanted to organize itself into a kind of leadership council and secure its power through a “military wing,” which should have consisted, among other things, of “homeland security companies.” At the same time, there were probably some people in the group who were firmly convinced of the existence of reptilian creatures – and a “seer”.
Shots during arrest
How serious some of the people apparently were became clear a few weeks after the first wave of access. Through the evaluation of various documents, the number of accused continued to grow at the beginning of 2023. In particular, written “declarations of commitment” in which people are said to have submitted their signature to the group’s will, so to speak, led the police to use new names and the Federal Prosecutor General to have more apartments searched.
This was also the case with a man in Reutlingen, Swabia. But while trying to search his apartment, shots were fired. A SEK officer was injured. The suspected shooter now has to answer for a possible murder attempt.
Phone status symbol
Anyone who was particularly important in this structure apparently received a special satellite phone with which calls could also be made outside the German network. The group is said to have hoped for protection from the investigators and crisis security. For the Federal Prosecutor General, these phones have another function: If someone had received such a phone, he or she was considered particularly suspicious in the proceedings, according to investigative circles.
But the group is also said to have exchanged ideas in normal phone calls and messenger groups. That’s why special attention was paid to all cell phones during the searches. This also applies to the alleged boss, Prince Reuss. He was arrested on December 7, 2022, not at his castle in Thuringia, but in his city apartment in Frankfurt am Main early in the morning.
After an initial shock at the visit from the special operations squad, the prince is said to have maintained his composure and been very polite to the police officers, it is said. He was even prepared to unlock his cell phone for the officers.