16 gün önce

Nine far-right group members face trial in Germany over 'coup plot'

The alleged plot is the most high-profile recent case of far-right violence, which officials say has grown to become the biggest extremist threat in Germany.

AP

The suspects are accused of having participated in the "military arm" of the organisation / Photo: AP

The first members of a far-right group that allegedly plotted to attack the German parliament and overthrow the government will go on trial in Stuttgart.

Nine suspected participants in the coup plot will take the stand in the first set of proceedings to open in the sprawling court case on Monday, split among three courts in three cities.

The suspects are accused of having participated in the "military arm" of the organisation led by the minor aristocrat and businessman Prince Heinrich XIII Reuss.

The organisation was an eclectic mix of characters and included, among others, a former special forces soldier, a former far-right MP, an astrologer, and a well-known chef.

Reuss, along with other suspected senior members of the group, will face trial in the second of the three cases, in Frankfurt in late May.

The group aimed to install him as head of state after its planned takeover.

The alleged plotters espoused a mix of "conspiracy myths" drawn from the global QAnon movement and the German Reichsbuerger (Citizens of the Reich) scene, according to prosecutors.

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'Hatred of democracy'

The Reichsbuerger movement includes right-wing extremists and gun enthusiasts who reject the legitimacy of the modern German republic.

Its followers generally believe in the continued existence of the pre-World War I German Reich, or empire, under a monarchy, and several groups have declared their own states.

Such Reichsbuerger groups were driven by "hatred of our democracy", Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in Berlin on Sunday.

"We will continue our tough approach until we have fully exposed and dismantled militant 'Reichsbuerger' structures," she added.

According to investigators, Reuss's group shared a belief that Germany was run by members of a "deep state" and that the country could be liberated with the help of a secret international alliance.

The nine men to stand trial in Stuttgart are accused by prosecutors of preparing a "treasonous undertaking" as part of the Reichsbuerger plot.

Police swooped in to arrest most of the group in raids across Germany in December 2022 and the charges were brought at the end of last year.

Proceedings in Stuttgart are set to continue until early 2025.