The biggest high treason trial since World War II is taking place in Germany. The “Reichsburger” putschists are on trial

Nine Germans are on trial starting today in a trial accused of trying to overthrow Germany’s legitimate government to replace it with an authoritarian monarchical regime allegedly led by a “pseudo-aristocrat” businessman with the name of Heinrich XIII, The Guardian reports. The nine plotters are charged with high treason, attempted murder and participation in a terrorist organization for attempting a coup.

The coup attempt took place in 2022 and was stopped in national raids by German police.

The individuals were identified as part of the “military wing” of the Reichsburger group, an organization led by a self-proclaimed aristocrat who calls himself “Heinrich XIII, Prince Reuss” and claims to be the “legitimate emperor of Germany.” .

The Stuttgart trial is part of three separate legal efforts, separated in time and space for logistical and security reasons. It is the largest such trial in post-war Germany.

26 accused individuals are due to appear before the courts, and federal prosecutors have initiated investigation procedures on behalf of 27. One of them, however, has died in the meantime.

The people on trial are former or current members of the armed services, including elite forces and a former policeman. One of them, identified in court as Markus L, is accused by prosecutors of shooting two policemen when law enforcement came to his home to arrest him.

Prosecutors say he had 500,000 euros in cash, 380 pistols, 350 handguns and approximately 150,000 rounds of ammunition. The plotters used the code name “candy” to refer to these bullets.

“We are not just talking about a group of obscure people with some strange ideas,” said Andreas Singer, the president of the Stuttgart court where the trial is taking place, noting that the plot was far-reaching.

A far-reaching plot

Reichsburger had organized a national system of 286 organized militias, called “homeland security companies”, to operate on the “X-Day” designated for the start of the coup – they planned to cause blackouts that would create chaos, and then to storm the parliament in Berlin, take members of the government hostage and use violence to achieve their goals.

Reuss, an anti-Semitic businessman from a former aristocratic family, founded the group with the express objective of destroying the current state order in Germany. He is one of the 9 currently on trial in Stuttgart.

Among the officials to be kidnapped were Chancellor Scholz, the head of the conservative opposition in parliament, Friedrich Merz, and two well-known TV personalities.

The trial is taking place in a high-security room in Stuttgart, built inside Stammheim prison, used in the 1970s to try members of a far-left group. The room is equipped with two-meter-high bulletproof glass to protect the judges and prosecutors and those attending the trial.

Before the trial, German authorities announced that they were monitoring the situation on the ground, as members of the Querdenker group, an anti-Covid restrictions organization, posted messages on social media saying they “plan to release” the Reichsburger plotters.

Experts say there are around 23,000 members of the group in Germany, and around 10% of them would have been prepared to use violence to achieve their goals. Reichsburger members believe in a Trumpist bill conspiracy that the current Federal Republic of Germany is “an instrument of the parallel state”. They were also exponents of the American conspiracy QAnon.

Editor: Adrian Dumitru

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