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Three men with alleged ties to a German extremist group that plotted to overthrow the government and kidnap a minister will go on trial in Munich on Wednesday.
The men are accused of backing the self-styled “United Patriots” group, part of Germany’s Reichsbürger scene.
The term, meaning “citizens of the Reich,” refers to a group of extremists and conspiracy theorists who reject the legitimacy of the German republic.
Four United Patriots members were jailed in March 2025 over plans to trigger a civil war in Germany through violence with the aim of taking over state power.
They were also found guilty of plotting to kidnap then-Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, who was a target over the German government’s COVID-era restrictions.
The men going on trial on Wednesday, named as 60-year-old Achim M, 71-year-old Joachim K and 62-year-old Rainer S, are accused of supporting the group and backing its coup plans.
According to prosecutors, they had all been earmarked to serve as government ministers in a re-established “Kingdom of Prussia” after Germany’s system had been overthrown.
The group, referred to by investigators as the Kaiserreichsgruppe or “Imperial Group”, was allegedly committed to forcibly establishing a new authoritarian Germany based on the old 1871 imperial constitution.
Series of trials
Last year, the three men and one woman convicted were sentenced to between 5 years and 9 months and 8 years in jail by the Koblenz higher regional court.
They had planned to carry out a sabotage attack dubbed “Silent Night” to disable the power grid, in the hope of seizing power in the ensuing chaos.
Two more people, a man and a woman, were also jailed in April 2025 for being accomplices in the plot.
The trial in Munich is one of several currently targeting alleged members of the Reichsbürger movement, including a group of Reichsbürger led by the self-styled Prince Heinrich XIII Reuss, who are also currently on trial in three separate courts for plotting to overthrow the government.
In addition to Reuss, defendants in that case include an ex-army officer and a former lawmaker from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
There were around 26,000 Reichsbürger in Germany in 2024, according to the federal domestic intelligence agency (BfV), up from around 25,000 in 2023.
In November, German police arrested a man loosely linked to the Reichsbürger movement who allegedly made online calls on the darknet to kill politicians, including former Chancellors Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz.
Additional sources • AFP