The kidnapping of the German Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach and the overthrow of the constitution, was planned by an organization that was dismantled thanks to the involvement of an undercover police officer, according to a federal court statement.
The latest arrest was made on October 13 last year when a 75-year-old retired teacher from Saxony, identified as Elisabeth R.
She was arrested in the eastern state of Saxony and, according to the D. Welle, she is possibly the leader of the so-called Reichsbürger movement, which denies the existence of a modern German state.
Together with several accomplices, she tried to kidnap the health minister and disrupt power plants to cause a nationwide blackout, prosecutors allege.
Authorities are now aware of details of plans for a two-week-long general power outage that could lead to a coup and for the kidnapping of Mr. Lauterbach and even while he was a guest on a TV show, in front of the cameras.
The person had been chosen by a "vote" among the members of the group and the health minister was then considered "the most hated politician", mainly because of his pandemic policy.
A special police officer from the Criminal Investigation Department of the Rhineland-Palatinate "collaborated" with this organization between November 2021 and April 2022 and participated in the exchange of messages between its members on the Telegram platform.
Four people - all German - who were allegedly working on these plans were arrested last April after one of them met the undercover police officer and discussed a weapons deal with him in various parts of the country.
During searches, firearms, ammunition, cash, gold bars, silver coins and currency were found and seized, the court said in its statement.
One of the arrested men has testified that the group's plans included posing as a double for Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
In addition, the group would seek recognition abroad by sending representatives by boat to the Baltic Sea, as far as the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, to request a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Germany's new constitution would be based on the imperial constitution of 1871 - but without an emperor or king, but with voting rights for women, "as a sign of adaptation to modern times".
As evidence has come to light, the organisation was in contact with people from Germany's far-right and neo-Nazi scene, conspiracy theorists and critics of the government's policy on the coronavirus pandemic.
The first broad meetings had been organized in Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and Thuringia.
A few days ago the detention order for the suspects was renewed, while the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office is working on the indictment.
It is considered likely that the charges will involve "preparation of an extreme act of treason", although, as the first channel of German public television ARD points out, there are still doubts as to whether the plans were sufficiently concrete in terms of time, place and means.
Source: ertnews.gr
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