According to the federal prosecutor’s office, a group of “Reich citizens” planned the violent overthrow. Now, among others, the suspected ringleaders around Henry XIII are standing. Prince Reuss in court in Frankfurt.
12:03 p.m.: In connection with the alleged terrorist group around Henry XIII. Prince Reuss is still investigating 77 accused. This is reported by the news portal t-online after a query with the state prosecutors general. After initially indicting 27 suspected members and supporters of a terrorist organization, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office handed over further ongoing proceedings to five public prosecutors general. One of the defendants died in March. The focus of the ongoing investigation is Baden-Württemberg and Thuringia. According to the report, the general public prosecutor’s office in Stuttgart alone is conducting 25 proceedings against 27 accused. Accusations include membership in a terrorist organization or supporting it, as well as failure to report planned crimes. The Thuringian authorities report 14 investigations with 17 accused. There are seven investigations pending against ten people suspected of being involved in Dresden, and two investigations against ten people in Munich. The Celle Public Prosecutor’s Office is still investigating 13 suspects in seven cases.
10.35 a.m.: The second nationwide terror trial against the alleged Reichsbürger group around Henry XIII has been delayed before the Frankfurt am Main Higher Regional Court. Prince Reuss started. It was originally supposed to start on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m., but the hearing didn’t start until a good three quarters of an hour later. An OLG spokeswoman said that the lawyers wanted to speak to their clients beforehand.
10:15 a.m.: The start of the trial against the alleged Reichsbürger group around Henry XIII, originally planned for 9:30 a.m. Prince Reuss before the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court is delayed. It is currently not possible to predict when it will start. According to the OLG, the defense lawyers wanted to speak to their clients before the start of the trial.
Tuesday, May 21st, 9:28 a.m.: In front of the court tent specially set up for the trial against the group of conspirators around Henry XIII. Prince Reuss in Frankfurt-Sossenheum. A large police presence guards the entrances and the entire area. Two hours before the trial begins, there is a long line waiting to get in.
They are said to have planned a violent overthrow by storming the Bundestag: The second terror trial against the “Reich Citizens” group around Henry XIII begins this Tuesday in Frankfurt am Main. Prince Reuss. The 72-year-old is accused of being a suspected ringleader and must stand trial before the Higher Regional Court along with eight other men and women. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office accuses the defendants of being members of a terrorist organization or of having supported it. Among them are ex-Bundeswehr soldiers and a former AfD member of the Bundestag.
The trial is the second of three mammoth trials against the group of “Reich citizens”: the trial against suspected representatives of the military wing began in Stuttgart at the end of April. The remaining suspected members of the group will be on trial in Munich from June 18th. The suspected conspirators were exposed during a large-scale anti-terror raid in December 2022.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) said: “It is good that from today onwards the alleged ringleaders of the largest terrorist group of ‘Reich Citizens’ to date will have to answer in court. The criminal trials in three higher regional courts at the same time have a new dimension. The defendants are not harmless crackpots, but dangerous terror suspects. “Our security authorities will continue their tough approach until we have fully exposed and dismantled militant ‘Reichsbürger’ structures. Nobody in this extremist scene should feel safe.”
According to the indictment, starting in August 2021, the group planned and prepared for a coup on “Day X.” Specifically, an armed group should have broken into the Reichstag building in Berlin to arrest members of the Bundestag and thus bring about the overthrow of the system. The plans deliberately took deaths into account. According to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, around 500,000 euros and a massive weapons arsenal were available for the plans.
The accusation is partly based on the preparation of a treasonous enterprise. Concrete preparations such as the recruitment of military personnel had taken place. The federal prosecutor said that the defendants had a deep rejection of state institutions and the free democratic basic order: “They followed a conglomerate of conspiracy myths.”
The alleged ringleaders, Reuss and Rüdiger von Pescatore, who is said to have headed the group’s military arm, are on trial in Frankfurt. Structures for our own state order were said to have been drawn up in basic terms, and Reuss should have acted as head of state. The former Berlin judge and former AfD member of the Bundestag Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, who is also one of the Frankfurt defendants, should have been responsible for the justice department. The so-called Reichsbürger in Germany claim that the German Empire (1871-1945) continues to exist. The Federal Republic and its laws do not recognize them.
The strictest security precautions apply to the exception process. A lightweight metal hall with an area of around 1,300 square meters was built on the outskirts of Frankfurt. In addition to the nine defendants, five judges, two additional judges and 25 defense lawyers will be present in the trial. Around 260 witnesses are to be called. According to the court, the documents relating to the trial are stored in 801 binders.
Instead of the original ten defendants, nine alleged “Reich citizens” appear before the judges in Frankfurt. Norbert G. died in a clinic in March, as a spokeswoman for the Higher Regional Court announced.
According to the court, the others face up to ten years in prison if they are found guilty of one count. In the event of multiple guilty verdicts and a total sentence, the maximum sentence would be 15 years in prison. The accused are presumed innocent until a verdict is reached.