A man involved in Germany’s right-wing extremist Reich Citizens movement was sentenced to prison on Monday for conspiring to stage a coup and kidnap Health Minister Karl Lauterbach.
The 62-year-old was sentenced to two and a half years in prison by a regional court in Frankfurt after being convicted of participating in the preparation of high treason as well as membership in a terrorist organization.
He was convicted of being part of the so-called Kaiserreichsgruppe, a sprawling group of conspirators from the fringe Reich Citizens movement who allegedly plotted the violent overthrow of Germany’s democratic government during the coronavirus pandemic.
The group’s members are said to have drafted a multi-stage plot: First, they planned to destroy the country’s power supply using bomb attacks, before kidnapping Lauterbach during a talk show. For this step, the group was allegedly prepared to kill the minister’s bodyguards.
Finally, they planned to introduce a system of government based on the 1871 constitution of the German Empire.
The security authorities had been monitoring the group, including with undercover police agents, since late 2021.
The first suspects were arrested in April 2022 during a series of high-profile police raids. News of the alleged plot attracted global media attention.
According to the presiding judge, the defendant convicted on Monday had lived comfortably before running into financial problems, which worsened with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
During this time, the judge said “he lost himself in the confusion of the internet.” Not believing the German constitution to be legitimate, he allegedly developed an interest in various conspiracy theories.
The judge said he eventually came across a coronavirus support group, where he met a leading member of the Kaiserreichsgruppe in December 2021.
The defendant agreed to store the necessary weapons for the coup in his garage and assist in the power outage, among other steps.
In his final statement to the court, the man said that he regretted his crime. He has been held in custody for about a year.
A trial against five other suspected members of the group has been ongoing at a regional court in the western German city of Koblenz since May 2023.
