Trial for far-right German prince who allegedly plotted coup begins
The second and highest-profile trial linked to a far-right coup plot in Germany begins on Tuesday, with the alleged 72-year-old ringleader Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss going before a Frankfurt court.
The prince will stand trial before the Higher Regional Court together with eight others. Federal prosecutors accuse them of having been members of or having supported a terrorist organization. They include former members of the German armed forces and a former member of parliament for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
They are accused belonging to the "Reichsbürger" network. So-called "Citizens of the Reich" believe that the modern German republic illegitimately replaced the German Reich that was founded in 1871 and continued under the Nazi regime until 1945. They reject the legitimacy of Germany's modern federal state and its laws.
The trial is the second of three mammoth trials surrounding the alleged coup attempt. A trial against alleged members of the group's military arm began in Stuttgart at the end of April. Other alleged members will stand trial in Munich from June 18.
The plot was uncovered during a large-scale anti-terror raid in December 2022.
According to the indictment, the group began planning and preparing for "Day X" - the date of the coup - starting in August 2021.
Specifically, an armed group was supposed to infiltrate the parliament building in Berlin with the aim of arresting German politicians and then installing a new interim government with Reuss as head of state.
They were said to have accepted they might have to sacrifice their lives to achieve their goals.
According to the prosecutors, around €500,000 ($543,000) and a large arsenal of weapons had been made available to the conspirators. Concrete preparations such as the recruitment of military personnel had also taken place.
The accused were united by a deep rejection of state institutions and the free democratic order, according to the federal prosecutor's office, which has described the group's ideology as "a conglomerate of conspiracy theories."
