The aristocrat Henry XIII, known as Prince Reuss, a magistrate and former member of the far-right AfD party, a former high-ranking officer in the army… They and six other defendants will be tried in Germany, from May 21, for “ participation in a terrorist organization,” the Frankfurt court said. They had simply plotted a coup d’état to overthrow the German government by force.
This is the main procedure launched by the courts against this network nourished by the ideology of the Reichsbürger (citizens of the Reich), an extremist movement contesting the authority of the German state. Its leaders planned to invade the Bundestag and overthrow the government. The rest of the 26 members and supporters of this putsch attempt will be judged from the end of April in Stuttgart for nine of them, and in Munich from June for the others.
A quasi-governmental organization
The vast raid against this cell, on December 7, 2022, shocked Germany, highlighting the sources of the conspiratorial and far-right threat.
“The aim of this network was to forcibly eliminate the existing public order in Germany and replace it with a new one,” explains the Frankfurt court order.
According to investigators, the small group was structured, at the end of July 2021, with a quasi-governmental organization. The members had different responsibilities: “military”, “interior”, “health”, “foreign affairs” and “justice” and organized regular meetings.
Descendant of a lineage from the regional state of Thuringia, Henry XIII is considered the main leader. Other central figures are Rüdiger v. P. a former lieutenant colonel of the Bundeswehr, and a magistrate, Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, former MP for the far-right AfD party between 2017 and 2021.