The “Reichsbürger” group, which was lifted out last week, apparently had many more accomplices than previously known. After a special meeting in Berlin, members of the Bundestag’s Legal Affairs Committee reported that investigators had found a three-digit number of so-called “non-disclosure agreements” from people who had been approached by the group.
According to the deputies, the alleged conspirators had planned to form more than 280 “homeland security companies” nationwide. According to a representative of the federal prosecutor’s office, they should have “arrested and executed” people in the event of an overthrow, said committee member Clara Bünger (left). Concrete preparations have already been made for this in Saxony, Thuringia and Baden-Württemberg.
Even if there is no indication that an attempted coup was imminent, the threat here should be taken seriously because of the high level of violence among those involved, emphasized the legal policy spokesman for the Union faction, Günter Krings (CDU). Katrin Helling-Plahr (FDP) said the case was “terrifying” both in terms of the number of people involved and the group’s financial resources.
400,000 euros in cash, gold and silver coins found
During the searches, more than 400,000 euros in cash, gold and silver coins were found, said Bünger. There should also be a locker in which there should be gold bars worth six million euros. For the inner circle of the conspirators, there was a satellite phone to communicate securely internally. A communication intercepted by the security authorities was about access to the Bundestag, Bünger reported from the meeting.
A decision is to be made next week on the extradition of a 64-year-old German ex-officer who was arrested near the Italian city of Perugia. In the hotel room of the former colonel of a special unit of the Bundeswehr, the police found “various material that can be traced back to the anti-state activities of the terrorist organization,” as reported.
According to reports, however, magazines for weapons that were not discovered during the raid are also said to have been discovered. According to participants at a special meeting in the evening, the members of the interior committee learned that the “non-disclosure agreements” found threatened the signatories with significant sanctions.
“The danger from the right also applies to the Union”
The Greens chairman Omid Nouripour said that one not only had to point out that in the course of the investigation with Birgit Malsack-Winkemann a former AfD member of the Bundestag was taken into custody, “but that if you look at which ideologies come together there, then the AfD is actually the parliamentary arm of those who don’t want this republic”. It is alarming that the suspects in this case also include members of the Bundeswehr and police officers.
A search in spring found a list of celebrities, including politicians, on one of the suspects. What he intended with the list is still unclear. The Greens domestic politician Misbah Khan said that Union faction leader Friedrich Merz (CDU) and former North Rhine-Westphalia Prime Minister Armin Laschet are on this list, showing that “the danger from the right also applies to the Union”. It is important “to act together as democrats against the threats and attacks from the right”.
