Court rejects stay of proceedings
Because of the large crowds in front of the courthouse, the proceedings before the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court started more than an hour later than planned. Further trials will follow from May 21st in Frankfurt am Main against nine leading members of the group and from June 18th in Munich. The remaining suspects ultimately stand trial there. One of the original 27 defendants has since died.
The President of the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court, Andreas Singer, spoke in advance of one of the “largest state security proceedings in the history of the Federal Republic”. He welcomed the division of the proceedings into three processes: “We don’t want to hold a show trial in some gym, but we have to deal with the individuals.”
The defense, however, criticized the fact that the group was to be tried in three different locations and has therefore called for the proceedings to be suspended. The findings from the other two procedures are difficult to take into account. The Higher Regional Court rejected a stay of the proceedings and the consolidation of the processes.
“Reich Citizens” The so-called Reich Citizens in Germany claim that the German Empire (1871-1945) continues to exist. The Federal Republic and its laws do not recognize them.
Group wanted to abolish state order by force
Die The accused were arrested in December 2022 in an anti-terror police raid in several federal states and abroad. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office is convinced that the alleged “Reich Citizens” group around Prince Reuss pursued violent overthrow plans. Accordingly, she wanted to eliminate the existing state order in Germany and replace it with her own form of government. Their plan was to break into the Reichstag building in Berlin with an armed group and arrest members of parliament. The group is said to have consciously accepted deaths.
The group is said to have had access to a “massive arsenal of weapons”, including 382 firearms, 347 cutting and stabbing weapons and 148,000 pieces of ammunition.