Thousands of police intervened on Tuesday in security operations across much of Germany against alleged far-right extremists who apparently wanted to overthrow the government in an armed coup.
About 3,000 officers participated in the operations in 130 locations in 11 of 16 German states against members of the so-called Citizens of the Reich movement. Some members of the group reject Germany’s postwar constitution and have called for the overthrow of the government.
Justice Minister Marco Buschmann called the searches an “anti-terrorist operation” and added that the suspects they could have planned an armed attack against state institutions.
According to the indictment, 22 German citizens were arrested on suspicion of “belonging to a terrorist organization”, three other people, including a Russian citizen, were suspected of supporting the organization and 27 other people were investigated. .
According to the weekly Der Spiegel, among the places searched were the barracks of the German special forces unit KSK in the southwestern city of Calw. The unit has been investigated in the past for the alleged belonging of some soldiers to far-right groups.
In addition to operations in Germany, one person was arrested in the Austrian city of Kitzbuehel and another in the Italian city of Perugia.
The detainees are accused of having formed “last year a terrorist organization with the aim of reversing the current state order in Germany and replacing it with its own form of state, which was already in the process of being established”.
The suspects were aware that their goal could only be achieved by military means and force, the indictment said.
Some members had done “concrete preparations” to storm Parliament with a small armed group, according to the indictment. “The details (of this plan) have yet to be investigated” to determine whether any of the suspects could be charged with treason, they said.
They allegedly believed in a “conglomerate of conspiracy theories consisting of messages from so-called Citizens of the Reich, as well as QAnon ideology,” according to the prosecution statement. They also believed that Germany was governed by a “deep state,” a belief similar to former US President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claims about the country about him.
the hypothesis The group leaders have only been identified as Heinrich XIII PR and Rüdiger v. P., in accordance with German privacy laws. Der Spiegel has indicated that the latter is a well-known 71-year-old man, a member of the German gentry, while the former is a 69-year-old former paratrooper.
Heinrich XIII PR, whom the group intended to name Germany’s new leader, had contacted Russian officials to negotiate a new order in the country once the current German government was overthrown, according to the indictment. He would have been assisted by a Russian woman, Vitalia B.
“Based on our ongoing investigation, however, there is no indication that the individuals contacted responded positively to your request,” prosecutors said.
Another person arrested Wednesday was identified as Birgit M.-W. Der Spiegel indicated that the woman is a judge and former lawmaker of the far-right party Alternative for Germany.
The party, known by its German acronym AfD, has come under increasing scrutiny by the German security forces due to its ties to extremists.
Source: Clarin
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.