Five members of a German far -right group were imprisoned for conspiracies to overthrow the government and kidnap their Minister of Health.
Four of the groups were described as “leaders” of a “terrorist organization” which provided for using violence to trigger civil war conditions in Germany.
The group had planned to remove the Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach – a defender of strict covid -19 measures during the pandemic – and to kill his bodyguards if necessary.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the defendants had been “a huge threat” for national security.
The Koblenz Superior Regional Court heard that the group met in January 2022 and designed a plan that included a sabotage attack to deactivate the electricity network.
The group – composed of four men aged 46 to 58 and a 77 -year -old woman – had hoped that they would be joined by unhappy members of the security forces.
Four defendants described as leaders were sentenced between five years and nine months and eight years in prison by a court in western Germany.
A fifth accused was sentenced to a sentence of two years and 10 months after the trial of almost two years.
The identity of the five convicted people has not been publicly disclosed.
The group was associated with citizens of the Reich whose disciples believed that the German Empire, which collapsed in 1918, continues to exist. Investigators say he was led by Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, a German aristocrat.
They would also have been inspired by the movement of the theory of the Qanon conspiracy, which is associated with certain supporters of Donald Trump in the United States.
After the verdict, Lauterbach – of the Social Democratic Party of Center -Gauche (SDP) – thanked the police and said that the state had shown “that he could defend himself against the theorists of the violent conspiracy”.
Faeser said: “Violent plans for a coup, for attacks on electricity infrastructure, for the kidnapping of the Minister of Health, Karl Lauterbach and for the murder of his bodyguards, showed a huge threat.”
She added that the security services “take seriously the threats posed by the citizens of the Reich scene and” we protect our democracy “.
The conviction follows several tests targeting the far -right groups linked to the citizens of Reich who reject the legitimacy of the modern German state.
