by Miranda Murray
BERLIN (Reuters) – German authorities announced the arrest on Wednesday of 25 members of a far-right group suspected of plotting a coup and an armed attack on the Bundestag.
The German prosecution said that this group was inspired by the conspiracy theories of QAnon and the Reichsbürger (citizens of the Reich), a movement that does not recognize the legitimacy of the institutions of the Federal Republic and defends the restoration of the German empire.
The plot planned to install a former member of the German royal family, identified as Henry XIII, as leader of the future state while another suspect, Rüdiger vP, commanded the armed wing, the prosecution said.
He added that Henry XIII, who uses the title of prince and comes from the princely house of Reuss, which ruled over parts of eastern Germany, had contacted representatives in Russia to ensure their support, without there is no evidence that this request was accepted positively by the parties concerned.
“It seems to be an internal problem in Germany. There can be no question of any interference from Russia,” reacted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
The German Interior Minister, Nancy Faeser, declared that the investigations had made it possible “to glimpse the abyss of the terrorist threat” emanating from the movement of the Reichsbürger, adding that the Federal State knew how to defend itself against these ” enemies of democracy”.
An active-duty special forces soldier and several reservists are among the suspects, a military intelligence spokesman told Reuters. The soldier is a member of the army’s elite KSK (Kommando Spezialkräfte) force, reorganized in recent years after several incidents in relation to the far right and neo-Nazi groups.
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Searches were carried out by more than 3,000 members of the security forces in 11 Länder. The suspects were arrested in Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Bavaria, Berlin, Saxony and Lower Saxony, Thuringia as well as Austria and Italy, the prosecution said.
Investigators suspect several suspects of having prepared an attack on the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, in Berlin with the help of a small armed group, the prosecution said.
Those arrested are also accused of having prepared, since the end of November 2021, several other actions such as the recruitment of new members, mainly in the ranks of the police and the army, he added.
The suspects will appear Wednesday and Thursday in federal court to decide whether or not to keep them in pretrial detention.
In August 2020, hundreds of protesters stormed the steps of the Reichstag, the parliament building, some waving far-right flags, on the sidelines of demonstrations against anti-Covid health restrictions.
According to the German internal intelligence services, the Reichsbürger movement brings together around 21,000 people, of whom around 5% are considered right-wing extremists.
Some 2,100 Reichsbürger are ready to use violence to achieve their goals, the services estimated in their annual report in 2021.
House Reuss has previously distanced itself from Henry XIII, describing him as a confused man obsessed with conspiracy theories, according to media reports. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
The German monarchy was abolished a century ago, when the Weimar Republic was proclaimed in 1919.
(French version Jean-Stéphane Brosse, edited by Kate Entringer)