Reuss Group in court
Accusation: Several accused planned attack on the Bundestag
18.06.2024, 16:01
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The public prosecutor’s office considers a total of 26 people to be accused of belonging to the “Reich Citizens” group around Prince Reuss. The alleged members are being tried in three trials. One of the cases is planning an attack on the Bundestag.
A lawyer, a doctor, an IT specialist, but also a self-proclaimed astrologer: Eight alleged members of the “Reich Citizens” group around Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss are currently having to answer to the Munich Higher Regional Court. This is the group that became known after a large-scale anti-terror raid in several federal states and abroad at the end of 2022. The currently 26 accused are said to have planned a violent overthrow of the federal government and knowingly accepted deaths in the process. Reuss was supposed to act as head of a new form of government.
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office accuses the eight defendants in Munich of founding or being members of a terrorist organization and of preparing a so-called high treasonous enterprise. Four men must also answer for preparing a serious act of violence endangering the state, and one for violating the weapons law. After Stuttgart and Frankfurt, this is the third terror trial in Germany against the “Reich Citizens” group around Reuss. Reuss and the alleged ringleaders are on trial in Frankfurt. In Stuttgart, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office has charged alleged members of the “military wing”.
But several of the defendants in Munich are also said to have belonged to the “council” of the association – similar to a cabinet of a legitimate government – or to the leadership staff of the “military arm”. Several defendants are said to have been involved in the planning of the attack on the Bundestag or were supposed to have taken part in it.
Disturber causes interruption
The defendants in Munich, who appear to be average citizens, only partially covered their faces from the press cameras with a folder or a newspaper at the start of the trial. Others were apparently indifferent to the journalists. The defendants all followed the reading of the charges – which could only begin after officials removed a troublemaker from the audience after loud heckling – largely motionless, with at most a slight shake of the head in between.
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office has meticulously listed what it accuses the defendants of, both personally and in conjunction with the defendants in the other proceedings. The picture that emerges of the men and women is both bizarre and frightening: Were they cranks and conspiracy theorists – or dangerous traitors, terrorists, putschists?
In Thomas T.’s case, for example, the group’s founding meeting is said to have taken place at the end of July 2021. Ruth L. is also said to have been one of the founding members and later repeatedly recruited new members, such as the former AfD member of the Bundestag Birgit Malsack-Winkemann. According to the indictment, T. and L., who stated her profession at the start of the trial as “astrologer, but actually a pensioner”, took over the management of the “transcommunication” department in the “council”. This department was therefore responsible for the spiritual screening of new council members and the personal advice of Prince Reuss.
Parts of the military wing in court
One defendant is said to have been responsible for the procurement of weapons within the “military arm” and to have equipped members for the planned attack on the Bundestag. According to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, another took over the management of the “Human Beings” organizational division in the military command staff: after a coup, this division was supposed to take over military jurisdiction and judge crimes, including using the death penalty.
The lawyer G. is said to have been chosen for the foreign affairs department in the “council”, the doctor R. for the health department. What is striking is that Corona was a dominant topic from the beginning. For example, R. is said to have repeatedly spoken on the subject of side effects of Corona vaccinations, according to the prosecution. The Munich Higher Regional Court has initially set 55 dates for the main hearing, currently until the end of January 2025. An extension is possible.