{"id":37871,"date":"2024-04-29T04:16:08","date_gmt":"2024-04-29T04:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/a-plot-to-overthrow-germanys-government-heads-to-court\/"},"modified":"2024-04-29T04:16:08","modified_gmt":"2024-04-29T04:16:08","slug":"a-plot-to-overthrow-germanys-government-heads-to-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/a-plot-to-overthrow-germanys-government-heads-to-court\/","title":{"rendered":"A Plot to Overthrow Germany\u2019s Government Heads to Court"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/04\/29\/multimedia\/29germany-trial-bqkp\/29germany-trial-bqkp-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"A Plot to Overthrow Germany\u2019s Government Heads to Court\" title=\"A Plot to Overthrow Germany\u2019s Government Heads to Court\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A year and a half after police and intelligence officers in Germany uncovered a plot to overthrow the country\u2019s government and replace its chancellor, the first of three trials in the sprawling case is set to begin on Monday in Stuttgart.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Most of the would-be insurrectionists were arrested in December 2022, when heavily armed German police officers stormed houses, apartments, offices and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/12\/11\/world\/europe\/germany-prince-heinrich-xiii.html\" title=\"\">a remote royal hunting lodge<\/a> and made dozens of arrests. Those charged included a dentist, a clairvoyant, an amateur pilot and a man running a large QAnon telegram group. The German authorities contend that their figurehead was Heinrich XIII Prince of Reuss, an <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/12\/07\/world\/europe\/prince-heinrich-reuss-germany.html\" title=\"\">obscure and conspiracy-minded aristocrat<\/a> who would have been made chancellor if the coup had succeeded.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Despite that idiosyncratic membership, the group was well organized and dangerous, investigators said. Some of its members were former officers trained by German elite military forces. One was a judge turned far-right lawmaker with Alternative for Germany, the surging populist party known as the AfD. The police said the group had stashed more than a half-million dollars in gold and cash; amassed hundreds of firearms, tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition and a cache of explosives; and secured satellite phones to communicate once it disabled national communications networks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cAll the satirical elements that are naturally present in this group \u2014 <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/12\/08\/world\/europe\/germany-plot-qanon.html\" title=\"\">elements of QAnon<\/a>, the belief in U.F.O.s, esotericism, the idea of being able to overthrow the system of the Federal Republic of Germany \u2014 should not distract from the fact that this group posed a grave potential threat,\u201d said Jan Rathje, a member of a nongovernmental organization that monitors conspiracy theories and right-wing extremism.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The trial scheduled to begin on Monday is the first of three set for this spring, and takes place as Germany wrestles with continuing fears about <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/03\/13\/world\/europe\/germany-far-right-government.html\" title=\"\">a rising far right in its politics<\/a> and a week after the arrests of several people accused of spying for <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/19\/world\/europe\/russia-zelensky-navalny-poland-arrests.html\" title=\"\">Russia<\/a> and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/22\/world\/europe\/germany-china-spying-arrests.html\" title=\"\">China<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now, federal prosecutors will try to prove that a different group came dangerously close to launching an attack on the democratic foundation of Europe\u2019s largest country.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-9ycfei eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-2ed2a324\">Who are the people accused of plotting to overthrow the government?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The 26 defendants set to face trial this spring (a 27th died in jail last month) are part of a growing and increasingly dangerous movement called Reichsb\u00fcrger, or citizens of the Reich.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">What sets them apart from other far-right extremists, according to the German authorities and experts on right-wing extremism, is their refusal to accept the idea of the modern German state, which some of them contend is actually a corporation run by shadowy bureaucrats of a \u201cDeep State.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Once dismissed as harmless eccentrics, Reichsb\u00fcrger used to be known more for making their own passports or for refusing to pay taxes or government fines. But that view changed in 2016 when a follower killed a police officer during a raid on his home.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">While the authorities put the number of active members of the Reichsb\u00fcrger movement in Germany at <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.verfassungsschutz.de\/SharedDocs\/publikationen\/DE\/reichsbuerger-und-selbstverwalter\/2023-06-reichsbuerger-und-selbstverwalter-staatsfeinde-geschaeftemacher-verschwoerungstheoretiker.html\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">around 23,000<\/a>, experts say the actual number is far higher. Last year, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kas.de\/de\/pressemitteilungen\/detail\/-\/content\/aktuelle-studie-5-prozent-der-deutschen-zeigen-naehe-zu-reichsbuerger-gedankengut\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a study<\/a> suggested that nearly 5 percent of Germans were open to some form of the conspiracy-based ideology.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cEven if many of the ideologies of the Reichsb\u00fcrger seem bizarre \u2014 extremists often pursue far-fetched goals \u2014 that does not make them any less dangerous,\u201d Konstantin von Notz, the chair of Germany\u2019s parliamentary intelligence oversight committee, said in an email exchange.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-9ycfei eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-39534e91\">How was the coup supposed to unfold?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Prosecutors believe the accused plotters \u2014 21 men and five women \u2014 were planning to launch the coup by attacking Germany\u2019s Parliament. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his ministers would be tied up and presented on national television to convince the public of the regime change, according to a version of the plan that investigators leaked last year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As part of the planning, they said, Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, the former AfD lawmaker, had led three of the men \u2014 at least two of them military-trained \u2014 into Parliament, where they scouted and photographed the premises.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Once the plotters controlled Parliament, the authorities said, the homeland protection brigades would spring into action, quelling local dissent and recruiting soldiers for an army loyal to their cause.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-9ycfei eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-3108e896\">Who is on trial first?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The nine defendants on trial in Stuttgart are accused of being part of the \u201cmilitary arm\u201d of the plot. Prosecutors contend that they were responsible for organizing and recruiting for the 286 \u201chomeland protection brigades\u201d that the plotters planned to deploy. These brigades, prosecutors will argue, were designed to put down resistance and liquidate enemies at the local level once the national government had been overthrown.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">They face charges of planning treasonous action and joining a terrorist organization. Both charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 years, although a combined sentence could be longer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some of the accused are also charged with breaking weapons laws, and one is facing charges of attempted murder for shooting a police officer during his arrest.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-9ycfei eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-38512b7e\">How long will the trial take?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Do not expect verdicts soon. German trials of this complexity can take years to prosecute, and this case already involves more than a dozen judges and nearly 100 defense lawyers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A quirk of German law also requires that all testimony and evidence be heard and seen by the panel of judges overseeing the case.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Each defendant also has several defense lawyers, each of whom is then entitled to follow-up questions.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-9ycfei eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-b30f02b\">What\u2019s next?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Prince Reuss, his Russian girlfriend and the group\u2019s founders will begin their trial next month in Frankfurt. Because of the large number of participants \u2014 seven men and two women are on trial in those proceedings, attended by an array of judges, lawyers and court officials \u2014 a new temporary courtroom had to be built on the city outskirts to handle the trial.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A third trial, held at a high-security court in Munich, will deal with eight more defendants accused of serving as the plot\u2019s leadership council, the coup\u2019s cabinet in waiting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/29\/world\/europe\/germany-far-right-plot-court.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A year and a half after police and intelligence officers in Germany uncovered a plot to overthrow the country\u2019s government and replace its chancellor, the first of three trials in the sprawling case is set to begin on Monday in Stuttgart. Most of the would-be insurrectionists were arrested in December 2022, when heavily armed German [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/04\/29\/multimedia\/29germany-trial-bqkp\/29germany-trial-bqkp-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1625,18168,3954,14190,40522,5592],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37871"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37871"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37873,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37871\/revisions\/37873"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}