A prince, several former army officers and a former deputy, leaders of a plotting cell that supposedly wanted to organize a coupappeared before the court this Tuesday in Frankfurt, in the west of Germany.
The process, unprecedented in the recent history of Germanyis the second in relation to this case, revealed in 2022 and that implicates 26 suspects.
Among the nine defendants in Frankfurt are the alleged masterminds of the far-right conspiracy group, that he was considering invading the Bundestag in Berlin, arresting the deputies and overthrowing the government.
The latter’s lawyers rejected the accusations against him. “He is not a leader, nor a ringleader. He is not a member of a terrorist group either. That’s all,” said his lawyer. Roman von Alvensleben on the sidelines of the trial, which began late due to several requests from the defense.
Heinrich XIII Prinz Reuss arrives for his trial at the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt, Germany, on May 21, 2024.
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This is how the conspiracy worked
This is the main process against this network, whose dismantling brought to light the springs of Germany’s conspiratorial and anti-establishment threat.
Within the framework of this case, a trial began at the end of April against nine other members of the band in Stuttgart, southwestern Germany. The rest of the members will be tried in Munich (south) starting June 18.
Police stand guard outside a courtroom as judge and former Alternative for Germany MP Birgit Malsack-Winkemann (4th left) and other defendants (not pictured) arrive for the trial.
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These are not “harmless madmen, but rather dangerous terrorist suspects” who were preparing “a violent coup d’état”, encouraged “by hatred of our democracy”, warned the Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser, this Tuesday in a release.
The small group had planned to provisionally place the 72-year-old aristocrat and businessman Henri XIII, descendant of a lineage from the state of Thuringia, at the head of the country.
They are also being judged Rüdiger von Pescatorea 70-year-old former lieutenant colonel in the German army, as well as a former army colonel, a former KSK special forces soldier, and a former police officer.
Protesters hold signs that read “Stop far-right terrorism!”
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How did the cell operate?
According to federal prosecutors, the defendants claim that the country is dominated by a “conspiratorial sect of pedophile elites.” An ideology that is reminiscent of the conspiratorial QAnon movement in the United States.
The network had “about 500,000 euros” at its disposal, as well as an “arsenal of about 380 firearms, nearly 350 edged weapons, 500 [de otro tipo] and at least 148,000 ammunition,” according to investigators.
“The members [de la célula] They were clear that the seizure of power they were preparing would involve the death of people,” the researchers stated.
In the last two years, several networks have been dismantled in Germany, one of which planned to kidnap the Minister of Health as a result of the restrictions imposed against covid-19.
The other cases
Last April, another trial began in the Territorial Court of Stuttgart against another nine accused of belonging to what is identified as representatives of the armed wing of the group of extremists whose leader was Henry XIII.
It is also planned that another trial, which will be held starting next June 18 at the Munich Territorial Court, will deal with the rest of the detainees accused of supposedly being part of the far-right coup group.
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