On Friday, a court in Munich sentenced three members of an extremist group claiming to be the Reich Citizens Movement (Reichsbürger), which she planned to invoke “civil war-like circumstances” and overthrow the government. TASR writes about it according to AFP.
62-year-old Rainer S., 71-year-old Joachim K. and 60-year-old Achim M. will serve two years and three months for membership in a terrorist organization. were found guilty of supporting the group and received suspended sentences of one year and nine months and one year and four months, respectively.
The trio subscribed to the Reichsbürger conspiracy ideology, which rejects the legitimacy of the current federal republic. Her followers became radicalized during the covid pandemic. Part of their plan was to sabotage the power grid, to provoke civil unrest with the ultimate goal of establishing the German Reich of 1871.
Presiding judge Jochen Boesl he called the group “exotic”, saying that it was “more than questionable” that their plan even had a chance of success. Nevertheless, conspiracy was a crime.
“Everyone is free to be as angry as they want, but the line is crossed when the use of armed violence is planned,” Boesl said at sentencing. The group was broken up in 2022 in massive anti-terrorist raids across Germany. The prosecutor’s office indicted a total of 27 people in various federal states.
