A would-be prince, a former judge and parliamentarian, and retired military officers were among nine alleged conspirators who have gone on trial for a suspected “Reichsbuerger” plot to overthrow Germany’s democracy.
Prosecutors say they were ringleaders in a terrorist plot to topple the government and install property investor Heinrich XIII Prinz Reuss, scion of a now throne less dynasty, as caretaker head of state.
The plot, exposed in 2022, has both captivated and stunned Germany, which prides itself on its economic might, stable institutions and consensus-driven politics, despite recent inroads by the far right.
The case, in a maximum-security courtroom on the outskirts of Frankfurt, is the second to open against members of a conspiracy suspected of involving at least 27 people.
The defendants who took their seats this morning constitute what prosecutors say would have been political and military leaders of a plot to storm parliament and detain legislators to initiate their seizure of power.
“They knew their seizure of power would involve killing people,” prosecutors wrote ahead of the trial.
The defendants have denied charges of terrorism and high treason.
Mr Reuss is the central figure of the movement who prosecutors say hosted planning meetings at his hunting lodge in eastern Germany.
Prosecutors say the defendants are adherents of the “Reichsbuerger” (Citizens of the Reich) belief system. It holds that today’s German state is an illegitimate facade and that they are citizens of a monarchy which, they maintain, endured after Germany’s defeat in World War I despite its formal abolition.
Security services say the conspiracy theory, which has parallels to the QAnon movement that fuelled the 2021 storming of the US Capitol, has some 21,000 adherents nationwide.
Nine accomplices who prosecutors say would have imposed martial law after a putsch went on trial in Stuttgart last month.
The defendants included former army officers Maximilian Eder and Ruediger von Pescatore, and former judge and far-right ex-parliamentarian Birgit Malsack-Winkemann.
Prosecutors say Ms Malsack-Winkemann used parliamentary privileges to escort several co-conspirators around the Reichstag building in Berlin in a scoping exercise.
Mr Eder told Stern magazine in an interview from prison that the parliamentary tour had been intended to find suitable locations to accost MPs over what he believed was their involvement in a child molestation ring.
The leading suspects are accused of seeking the backing of Russian officials, including during meetings at Russian consulates in Germany and in the Slovak capital Bratislava.
This reflected their belief that an “Alliance” of victor countries, including Russia and the United States, stood ready to support the resurrection of the real, submerged Germany that would replace today’s post-World War II republic.
Prosecutors say the conspiracy had €500,000 in funds and had gathered over 100,000 rounds of ammunition.
The trial’s opening attracted dozens of spectators andjournalists who lined up hours before the start.
