A would-be prince, a former judge and parliamentarian, and retired military officers are among nine alleged conspirators whose trial for a suspected “Reichsbuerger” plot to overthrow Germany’s democracy began yesterday.
Prosecutors say they were ringleaders in a terrorist plot to topple the German government and install property investor Heinrich XIII Prinz Reuss, scion of a now throneless dynasty, as a caretaker head of state.
The case, which is being held in a maximum-security courtroom on the outskirts of Frankfurt, is the second to open against members of a conspiracy involving at least 27 people.
Photo: Reuters
The defendants taking their seats behind bullet-proof glass constitute what prosecutors say would have been political and military leaders of a plot to storm parliament and detained legislators to initiate their seizure of power.
“They knew their seizure of power would involve killing people,” prosecutors wrote.
The defendants have denied charges of terrorism and high treason.
Prosecutors say they are adherents of the Reichsbuerger (Citizens of the Reich) belief system, which holds that today’s German state is an illegitimate facade and that they are citizens of a German monarchy which, they maintain, endured after Germany’s defeat in World War I — despite its formal abolition.
Security services say the conspiracy theory has about 21,000 adherents nationwide.
Nine accomplices who prosecutors say would have imposed martial law after a putsch went on trial in Stuttgart last month.
The defendants include former army officers Maximilian Eder and Ruediger von Pescatore, and former judge and far-right former German lawmaker Birgit Malsack-Winkemann.
Prosecutors say that Malsack-Winkemann used her parliamentary privileges to escort several of her coconspirators around the Reichstag building in Berlin in a scoping exercise to plan the putsch.
The ringleaders are accused of seeking the backing of Russian officials, including during meetings at Russian consulates in Germany and in the Slovak capital Bratislava.
This reflected their belief that an “Alliance” of victor countries, including Russia and the US, stood ready to support the resurrection of the real, submerged Germany that would replace today’s post-World War II republic.
The suspects reject the charges against them.
Eder told Stern magazine in an interview given from prison that the parliamentary tour had been intended to find suitable locations to accost lawmakers over what he believed was their involvement in a child molestation ring.
Prosecutors say the group had 500,000 euros (US$543,648) in funds and had gathered more than 100,000 rounds of ammunition.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
RSS