The raid was in connection with the group of suspected Reich citizens uncovered on December 7, who are said to have planned a coup. After that it was already known that the number of accused is significantly higher than that of the 25 people who are in custody. The new searches targeted five other suspects suspected of supporting a terrorist organization. It was about people from Munich, the Hanover region, Chemnitz and Switzerland.
According to the information, the raid extended to more than 20 objects in more than eight federal states and Switzerland. In Germany, officials from the Federal Criminal Police Office and special units from the federal and state governments were used. According to the federal prosecutor’s office, the premises of 14 people who were not suspects were also searched. This group included the shooter Markus L., who was considered a witness.
When the special forces arrived at his apartment in Reutlingen, L. pointed a large-caliber gun at them and refused to put them down, the federal prosecutor said. In the ensuing exchange of fire, a police officer was wounded in the arm. According to the federal prosecutor’s office, the man is now being investigated for multiple attempted murder and dangerous bodily harm.
The Karlsruhe authorities took over the investigation because of the special importance of the case. L. rejects the constitutional order of the Federal Republic, she explained to the political attitude of the man. The shooter was brought before the investigating judge of the Federal Court of Justice on Wednesday, who ordered the suspect to be held in custody.
In December, the police and the federal prosecutor’s office deployed several thousand forces against a suspected network of Reich citizens. They are said to have planned a violent coup. 23 people were arrested in Germany, one in Italy and one in Austria.
Among them is the Frankfurt businessman Heinrich XIII. Prince Reuss, together with the former elite soldier Rüdiger von P., the presumed head of the network, as well as the former AfD member of the Bundestag and judge Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, who has been suspended for the time being.
According to the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”, Rene R. was released from custody in December of the 25 arrested. The former Mainz court singer is therefore still suspected of membership in a terrorist organization. However, the maintenance of pre-trial detention was considered disproportionate.
Federal Public Prosecutor Peter Frank had warned last month of a growing willingness to use violence in the Reichsbürger scene in Germany, which numbers around 23,000 people. Larger parts of them are ready for active violence or express their fantasies of violence against state representatives more freely than before, he told the “Welt am Sonntag” at the time.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) reiterated her call for stricter gun laws on Wednesday. “We have to consistently disarm these extremists,” she said in Berlin.
Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP) said the police officer’s injury “shows how dangerous the operations are”. The weapons authorities are “obligated to disarm Reich citizens”.
