13th March, 2024
Nine alleged members of a far-right extremist group who were accused of plotting to overthrow the German government will go on trial in Stuttgart beginning April 29.
The trial was announced in the court on Wednesday.
The defendants were accused of membership in a terrorist group from the far-right “Reich Citizens” scene, which rejects the legitimacy of Germany’s post-war democratic government.
The nine defendants, who were between the ages of 42 and 60, were all charged with conspiracy to engage in a highly treasonous enterprise.
The defendants included a man who allegedly shot at police officers with a semi-automatic rifle, wounding two, during a raid on his apartment in the southwestern German town of Reutlingen in March 2023.
The man was charged with attempted murder, dangerous bodily harm, resisting and assaulting law enforcement officers, according to the court.
He and one other defendant were also accused of violating Germany’s War Weapons Control Act.
The prolonged proceeding was scheduled to continue into January 2025.
Alleged members of the plot were captured in spectacular large-scale police raids across Germany and abroad in December 2022.
German federal prosecutors charged a total of 27 suspects in cases filed in several courts around the country.
Authorities have accused Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, a German aristocrat and entrepreneur, of being the ringleader of the alleged plot, Reuß and other alleged leaders faced a separate trial.
According to prosecutors, the defendants in Stuttgart allegedly joined the plot between the spring and summer of 2022.
The defendants in Stuttgart were also involved in various functions of the group’s supposed “military arm,” which allegedly planned to take control of the country by force.
They allegedly began efforts to establish a country-wide system of 286 militarily organized units, dubbed “Homeland Defence Companies. (dpa/NAN)