20 accused
Raid against “Reichsbürger” in eight federal states – accusation of forming a criminal organization
Police and public prosecutors launched a raid in eight federal states on Thursday against the so-called Reichsbürger scene
© Friso Gentsch / DPA
Suspected “Reich citizens” received a visit from the police in eight federal states on Thursday. Special forces were also deployed.
Around 280 emergency services searched several objects in eight federal states on Thursday in connection with investigations against “Reich citizens”. According to DPA information, the 20 defendants are accused of forming a criminal organization.
According to the DPA, under the direction of the Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office, police officers were deployed in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein, Brandenburg, Hamburg and Lower Saxony.
Suspected ringleader from Upper Bavaria
There were two searches in Hesse. When asked, the Hesse State Criminal Police Office in Wiesbaden said there were no arrests. The two search warrants were executed in the Offenbach and Rheingau-Taunus districts.
The alleged ringleader of the “Reichsbürger” group, which was the focus of the raid, comes from Upper Bavaria. The man lives in the Fürstenfeldbruck district and had already received a visit from the police before the search operation, said Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU). According to the Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office, proceedings are ongoing against the 58-year-old from Olching at the Munich I Regional Court.
The group “insulted state institutions nationwide on a large scale and sometimes massively threatened them, mainly via social media.” According to investigators, there have been no attacks so far. The public prosecutor’s office said the group had blocked communication channels from authorities and thereby wanted to influence their decisions.
Searches of “Reichsbürger” already in October
It was only in October that emergency services in several federal states searched numerous apartments of so-called Reich citizens who were attributed to the alleged terrorist group “United Patriots”. A total of five suspects were arrested.
“Reich citizens” are people who do not recognize the Federal Republic and its democratic structures. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution counted around 23,000 people across Germany in 2022 as part of the “Reich Citizens” and “self-administrators” scene, 2,000 more than in the previous year.
Note: This article has been updated several times.