A German court on Thursday jailed four members of an extremist group linked to the “Citizens of the Reich” movement for plotting a coup and to kidnap the health minister.
The three men and one woman, members of the self-styled “United Patriots” group, were sentenced to between five years and nine months and eight years’ jail by the Koblenz higher regional court.
It was one of several trials targeting the wider far-right movement whose members adhere to conspiratorial narratives and reject the legitimacy of the modern German state.
Together they had hatched a plan to kidnap Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, a figure of scorn for many opponents of Covid-era restrictions, and to kill his bodyguards if they deemed it necessary.
After the verdict, Lauterbach of the centre-left Social Democrats thanked “the police and the judiciary for solving and punishing the planned crime”.
The court heard that the four had joined forces by January 2022 with a plan to trigger civil war-like conditions in Germany through violence with the aim of taking over state power.
Their plan had included a sabotage attack to disable the power grid in an operation they dubbed “Silent Night”.
Their hope was that in the ensuing chaos they would be joined by disgruntled members of the security forces.
The defendants were associated with the Citizens of the Reich, whose adherents hold that the German Empire, which collapsed in 1918, continues to exist.
Several other cases have been launched by courts in Duesseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich and Stuttgart, some leading to convictions, and others ongoing.
The eclectic movement of malcontents and gun enthusiasts was headed by a minor aristocrat and businessman, Prince Heinrich XIII Reuss.
The alleged putschists are said to have taken inspiration from the global QAnon movement.
The Koblenz court also found two of the main defendants guilty of weapons offences and one of planning a serious act of violence endangering the state.
The three men were arrested in April 2022 and the woman in October of that year. The trial began in May 2023.
A fifth defendant was sentenced to two years and 10 months in prison for being a member of the terrorist group and for also planning high treason.
Last April, German prosecutors said they had charged a sixth suspect in the kidnap plot.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said “the investigations into this terrorist group have revealed an abyss.
“The violent plans for a coup, for attacks on the electricity infrastructure, for the kidnapping of Health Minister Karl Lauterbach and for the killing of his bodyguards have shown an enormous threat.”
She said security services “take the threats posed by the Citizens of the Reich scene seriously and are acting accordingly. We are protecting our democracy.”
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