Trial of alleged planners of German coup, minister kidnapping starts

The trial of five people accused of forming a terrorist group, planning to kidnap the German health minister and to overthrow the Berlin government started on Wednesday, reported dpa.

The proceedings are taking place the Higher Regional Court in Koblenz, north-west of Frankfurt.

Prosecutors allege the group formed with the aim of "triggering civil war-like conditions in Germany by means of violence ... thereby bringing about the overthrow of the federal government and parliamentary democracy."

An authoritarian system of government was to be re-established along the lines of the former German Empire. This ideology has found expression in Germany in the far-right Reichsbürger (Reich Citizens) movement, which rejects the authority of the state.

According to the indictment, the defendants were part of the group Vereinte Patrioten (United Patriots). They are suspected of planning to plant explosives, cause a prolonged power outage and kidnap "well-known public figures," including German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach.

Once the government had been removed, new leaders of Germany were to be appointed in a "constituent assembly" in Berlin.

The four men, aged between 44 and 56, were arrested at various locations in Germany in April 2022. A 75-year-old woman was arrested in October 2022. They have been in custody ever since.

The five are accused of preparing a highly treasonable act against the state. Three of the men and the woman are said to have been the group's ringleaders.