Nine suspects must stand trial from today in Stuttgart, South Germany, because they wanted to commit a coup as far-right Reichsbürger (Reich Citizens). The accused include members of the military branch that had to carry out the coup.
Ten others will stand trial in Frankfurt from May 21. And on June 18, a case against eight other suspects starts in Munich: in total there are charges against 27 suspects. A single monster trial for high treason was deliberately not chosen in order to be able to try each suspect as carefully and accurately as possible. “We don’t want to hold a show trial in a gymnasium, it’s about the individuals,” said Andreas Singer, the presiding judge of the court in Stuttgart. That is why the suspects are divided into three trials: in Stuttgart it concerns the so-called military arm, in Frankfurt the suspected leaders will be tried from May 21 and in Munich the other suspected members will be tried from June 18.
Violent coup plans
The news in early December 2022 about the planned coup hit Germany like a bombshell: more than 75 years after the end of the Second World War and the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler, extremely nationalist Germans wanted to again forcibly establish an anti-democratic empire on German soil. The conspirators around real estate agent and Prince Heinrich (Hendrik) Interesting detail: Prince Reuss is the grandson of Adolf Frederik of Mecklenburg, who was the older brother of Prince Hendrik, the grandfather of the Dutch former queen and current Princess Beatrix.
The suspected ‘Reich citizens’ around Prince Reuss wanted to eradicate the existing state order by force and replace it with their own form of government, the main principles of which had already been worked out. The ‘Reich citizens’ do not recognize the Federal Republic and its laws. The group is said to have had access to a huge arsenal of weapons and to have accepted deaths during the coup plans.
The first trial against the group starts today in Stuttgart. In the highly secured courtroom of the court in Stammheim, where members of the extreme left-wing terrorist group Red Army Faction (RAF) were tried in the 1970s, judicial history will be written again. “This is one of the largest state security lawsuits in the history of the Federal Republic,” Singer said.
Complex procedures
The procedures are likely to become complex. Suspects in one trial may be called as witnesses in other trials. Each court must gather its own evidence and reach its own verdict. In principle, according to Singer, contradictory statements are ultimately possible, although observers consider this unlikely.
At the trial in Stuttgart there are nine defendants, five judges, two additional judges as alternates and 22 defense lawyers. The defendants sit behind thick glass and can speak to their lawyers through a microphone. According to the chairman of the court, the investigation file has 400,000 pages, divided into 700 folders.
Also read: How a mysterious prince and a former officer plotted a coup in Germany (+)
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Tags: Trial German Reich citizens wanted commit coup starts today
