Germany charges 27 suspects over Reichsbürger coup plot

For the first time after a series of raids last year, federal prosecutors in Germany on Tuesday brought charges linked to an alleged coup plot hatched by members of the far-right "Reichsbürger" movement. 

Authorities in the western city of Karlsruhe said they had charged 26 suspected members of a terrorist organization and a Russian female national accused of supporting it.

Included in the charges, listed on the prosecutors' website, was preparation for an act of high treason.

"The accused are strongly suspected of membership of a terrorist organisation as well as preparation of a treasonous undertaking," the prosecutors said in a statement.

What do we know about the suspects?

Police in several German states arrested 25 suspects last December in the first of a string of raids.

Prosecutors said the circle of suspects was still growing with many of those involved already in custody.

Those now charged include Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, a former member of the German parliament for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Also charged was the entrepreneur and aristocrat Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, who is alleged to have been the ringleader.

Plans for the coup had evolved to such a degree that branches of a future government had already been allocated.

Malsack Winkemann, a sitting Berlin judge at the time of her arrest, had been earmarked to lead the justice ministry. Reuss was to have become Germany's head of state.

The accused, who also included a former special forces soldier, were said to have wanted to overthrow Germany's political order. They were said to have accepted that this would involve violence and possible deaths.

Plan to set up armed units

According to prosecutors, the group made contact with Russian officials seeking to establish a new order in Germany once the Berlin government was overthrown. They also began stockpiling weapons.

Prosecutors said the suspects planned to set up 280 armed units across Germany that would have been tasked with "arresting and executing" people after a coup. They planned to break into the Reichstag parliament building in Berlin armed and arrest members of the Bundestag.

The group made numerous concrete preparations for the coup and the subsequent securing of power. The "Council" was to serve as the central body of a transitional administration, similar to the cabinet of a regular government. Its job was to negotiate a new state order in Germany with the Allied victorious powers of the Second World War.

In the states of Saxony, Thuringia, and Baden-Württemberg, concrete preparations had already been made.

Prosecutors said the cases would be heard at higher regional courts in Frankfurt, Munich and Stuttgart. The more prominent cases are set to be heard in Frankfurt.

Members of the movement believe deep-state conspiracy theories that deny the existence of Germany's post-World War II Federal Republic and reject the authority of the German government. They claim that the 1937 borders of the German empire still exist.

They were therefore convinced by various conspiracy myths for example that Germany is currently ruled by members of a so-called deep state.

The members believed they would be liberated by a secret alliance that would work with them and give them the signal for "Day X" when the coup would be launched.

The non-existent society was said to include governments, intelligence services and militaries of various states, including the Russian Federation and the United States of America.

Edited by: Alex Berry

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