German prosecutors charge 27 over far-right treason plot

Prosecutors in Germany have charged 27 people with supporting a terrorist organization and preparing an act of high treason, 12 months after a string of arrests was made across the country in connection with the planning of a right-wing coup.

A group known as Reichsbuerger, or Citizens of the Reich, which does not recognize the legitimacy of the modern state of Germany, had reportedly begun stockpiling weapons and military training ahead of a planned storming of the national parliament, where it planned to arrest members and overthrow the regime.

"The (group) members were aware that the planned takeover of power would involve the killing of people," said a statement issued by prosecutors when charges were filed.

At the time of the initial arrests in December last year, the BBC reported that the group was known to predate the pandemic, but that the development of its plans tied up with the online spread of pandemic disinformation, and it was reportedly linked to a group that had plotted to kidnap the country's Health Minister Karl Lauterbach last year. Five people went on trial over that plot in May.

It is believed the group had financial assets worth around 500,000 euros ($538,788), and prosecutors said it had what they called "a massive arsenal of weapons", including 380 firearms, hundreds of other weapons and at least 148,000 rounds of ammunition.

Deep rejection

Members of the organization were united by a deep rejection of state institutions and the free democratic order, the prosecutors added.

According to German state-owned broadcaster Deutsche Welle, those charged include a former German special forces soldier and Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, a former German parliament member from the far-right Alternative for Germany party.

Malsack-Winkemann, who was a sitting judge in Berlin when she was arrested, was reportedly in line to become head of the justice ministry in the new regime, with its head of state being the alleged ringleader of the group, the self-styled prince Heinrich XIII of the aristocratic house of Reuss.

Germany has been a republic for more than 100 years, and even before his arrest over the alleged plot last year, the Reuss family had disowned him, with its head and spokesman Heinrich XIV being quoted by NBC as calling him a "confused old man" who "is now caught up in conspiracy theory misconceptions".