Nine in Germany, accused of 'Reichsbuerger' coup plot, go on trial
World
Nine in Germany, accused of 'Reichsbuerger' coup plot, go on trial
FRANKFURT/BERLIN (Reuters) - A would-be prince, a former judge and parliamentarian, and retired military officers were among nine alleged conspirators who went on trial on Tuesday for a suspected "Reichsbuerger" plot to overthrow Germany's democracy.
Prosecutors say they were ringleaders in a terrorist conspiracy to topple the government and install property investor Heinrich XIII Prinz Reuss, scion of a now-throneless dynasty, as caretaker head of state.
The plot, exposed in 2022, has both captivated and stunned Germany, which prides itself on its economic might, stable institutions and consensus-driven politics, despite recent inroads by the far right.
The high-profile case, in a maximum-security courtroom on the outskirts of Frankfurt erected for the trial, is the second to open against members of a conspiracy suspected of involving at least 27 people.
The defendants who took their seats on Tuesday constitute what prosecutors say would have been political and military leaders of a plot to storm parliament and detain legislators to initiate their seizure of power.
"They knew their seizure of power would involve killing people," prosecutors wrote ahead of the trial.
The defendants have denied charges of terrorism and high treason.
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MONARCHISTS
Prosecutors say the defendants are adherents of the "Reichsbuerger" (Citizens of the Reich) belief system. It holds that today's German state is an illegitimate facade and that they are citizens of a monarchy which, they maintain, endured after Germany's defeat in World War One despite its formal abolition.
Security services say the conspiracy theory, which has parallels to the QAnon movement that fuelled the 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol, has some 21,000 adherents nationwide.
