German security forces on Wednesday arrested 25 members of an unidentified far-right group suspected of planning a coup d’état, authorities announced, stressing that the detainees intended to «use military means» against state representatives and subsequently form their own government.
The German Public Prosecutor’s Office has detailed in a statement on its website that the detainees are «suspected members and supporters of a terrorist organization» and has confirmed that operations are underway to arrest a total of 52 people. Thus, it has stated that 22 of the detainees are members of the group and are all German nationals, while among the three «followers» arrested there are two Germans and a Russian.
The arrests have taken place in the federal states of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Saxony and Thuringia, while two people have been arrested in Austria and Italy, respectively. In addition, 130 properties in four other German federal states have been raided and searched.
«Those arrested are suspected of being members of a domestic terrorist organization,» he has outlined, before identifying the alleged ringleaders as Henrich XIII and Rudiger. «The defendants belong to a terrorist organization founded at the latest at the end of November 2021 that aimed to overthrow the existing state order in Germany and replace it with its own form of government, which would have been hatched,» he has pointed out.
«The members of the association are aware that this project can only be achieved through military and violent means against state representatives, which includes committing homicides. The defendants are united by a profound rejection of state institutions and the free democratic order in Germany,» said the prosecution, which said they all «follow a conglomeration of conspiratorial myths of the so-called Reichsburger and QAnon ideologies.»
