The first trial of the “Citizens of the Reich” conspiracy was opened in Stuttgart

On December 7, 2022, the day German police conducted one of the most spectacular raids in their history had not yet dawned. That morning, twenty-five of eleven of the country's sixteen Länder were arrested, including former officers of the German army and former members of the far-right Fur Deutschland (AfD) party and descendants of an old family from the Thuringian aristocracy.

All members of the Movement Reichsburger (“Citizens of the Empire”), a nebula that emerged in the 1980s, and its supporters – estimated at around 23,000, according to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the German domestic intelligence services – do not recognize its legitimacy. The Institutions of Federal Germany and the Dream of Restoring the Empire in 1871 According to a press release from the State Attorney's Office issued on December 7, 2022, they were preparing. “Violently enter the Bundestag with a small armed group” and initialize A “Armed Attack on Constitutional Organs”. In other words, make a coup.

A year and a half later, the conspirators have a court date. Accused “Participation in a terrorist organization”However, not all of them would appear together, and because of their numbers, the authorities decided to organize not one, but three trials.

The first, which opens on Monday 29 April in Stuttgart (Baden-Württemberg), brings together members of the “military arm” of the cell. The second, which will begin on May 21 in Frankfurt (Hesse), will bring together the masterminds of the conspiracy. The third will take place in Munich (Bavaria) from June 18, and the second will be Knives. Initially, twenty-seven people were investigated: twenty-five were arrested on December 7, 2022, and two were arrested later. After one dies, only twenty-six eventually appear.

Of the three trials, Frankfurt was the most anticipated case because of the social status of the accused and the role they played in the foiled conspiracy. In particular, the leader of the group, Prince Reus, a Thuringian duke known as Heinrich XIII, would be called the “Regent” and take charge of the Provisional Government once the coup was successful. From late 2021 to early 2022, meetings dedicated to planning the regime were held at the hunting lodge of the former real estate and sparkling wine tycoon.

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