The Japan Times - Three go on trial in Germany over plot to overthrow government

The men are accused of backing the self-styled "United Patriots" group, part of Germany's Reichsbuerger scene.

The term "Reichsbuerger" (Citizens of the Reich) refers to a loose grouping of extremists and conspiracy theorists who reject the legitimacy of the modern German republic.

Long dismissed by critics as malcontents and oddballs, they have become increasingly radicalised in recent years and are seen as a growing security threat.

Two of the defendants held up laptop sleeves to hides their faces from photographers as they filed into the courtroom on Wednesday afternoon.

Four members of the "United Patriots" group were jailed in March 2025 over plans to trigger civil war-like conditions 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, a figure of scorn for many opponents of Covid-era restrictions.

The men who went on trial Wednesday, identified by the court 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, the men had all been earmarked to serve as government ministers in a re-established "Kingdom of Prussia" after Germany's current republic 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.

The three men and one woman convicted last year over the plot were sentenced to between five years, and nine months and eight years, in jail by the Koblenz higher regional court.

- Sabotage attack -

Their plan had included a sabotage attack to disable the power grid in an operation they dubbed "Silent Night" in the hope they would seize power in the ensuing chaos, the court said.

Two further 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 Reichsbuerger movement, whose members adhere to conspiratorial narratives and reject the legitimacy of the modern German state.

There were around 26,000 Reichsbuerger in Germany in 2024, according to the federal domestic intelligence agency (BfV) -- up from around 25,000 in 2023.

In the most shocking case so far, a group of Reichsbuerger led by the self-styled aristocrat Prince Heinrich XIII Reuss are 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.

In November, German police arrested a man loosely linked to the Reichsbuerger movement who allegedly made calls on the darknet to kill politicians, including former chancellors Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz.

The man, named as Martin S., is accused of running an online platform where he published lists of names and death sentences, gave instructions for building explosives and solicited donations in cryptocurrencies to be used as "bounties".

Prosecutors in those proceedings on Wednesday said they had charged Martin S. with financing terrorism and providing instructions for the commission of a serious act of violence endangering the state.

M.Sugiyama--JT