(Adnkronos) – The 4 main defendants in the trial in Koblenz, Germany, for establishing and belonging to the terrorist organization ‘United Patriots’, which planned actions against the incumbent government, including the kidnapping of the then Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach, were sentenced to prison terms of up to 8 years. A fifth defendant was sentenced to two years and 10 months. The trial began on May 17, 2023.
The group wanted to plunge the country into chaos, carry out dynamite attacks to paralyze the electricity grid and had planned to kidnap Lauterbach – a particularly prominent political figure at the time as he was directly responsible for managing the Covid crisis – during a television show after “eliminating” his bodyguards. The ultimate goal was to overthrow the state institutions, appoint new leaders within the framework of a constituent assembly and restore the constitution of the German Empire in 1871.
The “mind” of the group, a former teacher, often referred during the trial to the theories of the Reichsbuerger, the Citizens of the Reich, another movement that does not recognize the authority of the German state. The investigations into the “United Patriots” were the starting point for those into another sensational criminal association, which centered on the figure of Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss. The alleged leaders of this group were arrested in December 2022. They allegedly planned to overthrow the German political system by force of arms. Frankfurt prosecutors claim that the group’s paramilitary wing aimed to raid Parliament, arrest the politicians present and finally install Reuss as Germany’s new leader.
