(Adnkronos) – German aristocrat Heinrich XIII, known as the Prince of Reuss, suspected of leading a German far-right network that planned a coup and was dismantled at the end of 2022, today denied ever playing this leadership role in the network, admitting only to having been a simple “moderator” of meetings he hosted.
“I was not the leader, but the host,” he declared to the Frankfurt court, where he has been on trial since May 2024 along with eight alleged accomplices of the “Reichsbürger” (Citizens of the Reich) movement, which allegedly plotted to overthrow the authorities of the Federal Republic of Germany in the belief that the modern German republic illegitimately replaced the Reich founded in 1871.
Reuss admitted to having “made rooms available” and having “participated as a moderator in meetings” because he was the host. But “I am not a terrorist and I have not planned any terrorist acts,” he stated. The defendants are the alleged masterminds of a group fueled by conspiracy theories and far-right ideologies: if the plan to overthrow the country’s leaders had succeeded, Reuss, a descendant of a dynasty of regional rulers, would have been installed as the head of Germany, according to the prosecution. (continues)
The defendant spoke of “curiosity,” which led him to “agree to be put in contact with the so-called ‘Terrestrial Alliance’,” a global military pact that was supposed to overthrow the established state order. But “even before my arrest, it became clear to me that the Alliance did not exist and that I and others had been deceived,” said the 74-year-old aristocrat.
About twenty alleged members of this group are on trial in three separate judicial cases, which began in spring 2024 in Stuttgart, Munich, and Frankfurt. In addition to Heinrich XIII, the group includes a former German army lieutenant colonel, a former KSK special forces soldier, a former police officer, and a judge who was a member of parliament for the far-right AfD party.
In May, three new suspects, believed to have participated in firearms training in preparation for a potential attack on the Bundestag, set for ‘Day X’, were arrested as part of the investigation.
