After the shots at police officers during an operation in Boxberg in Baden, a suspected “Reich citizen” is on trial in Stuttgart today (10:00 a.m.). A year ago in Boxberg, Baden, he is said to have shot the officers with an automatic rifle and injured two of them because they wanted to search his apartment. The man is accused of multiple attempted murders and the hearing is being held in the heavily secured OLG trial building in Stammheim.
The then 54-year-old fired the shots through the almost completely lowered shutters in the living room and bedroom and only gave up after about two hours. In his house, investigators found a walk-in weapons cache with rifles and submachine guns, thousands of rounds of ammunition and accessories.
It is the second case in Stuttgart that Federal Public Prosecutor General Peter Frank has initiated in a short period of time. A week and a half ago, a suspected “Reich citizen” was sentenced to ten years in prison for attempted murder. However, the judgment is not yet final. The 62-year-old is said to have intentionally hit a police officer in Efringen-Kirchen in southern Baden and seriously injured him.
More than 60 suspects
The possible charges after the raids in December and a few weeks ago are also the responsibility of the federal prosecutor’s office, as are the probable proceedings for multiple attempted murders against a suspected Reutlingen “Reich citizen”. According to the prosecutors, the man had shot at police officers during the most recent raid.
Frank recently spoke of more than 60 suspects after the raids. The investigation would take some time. The state of Baden-Württemberg is increasing its judicial staff and strengthening the courts, primarily because of the increasing number of “Reichsbürger” proceedings. Five additional judges would be created for the Higher Regional Court (OLG) in Stuttgart and thus an additional state security senate would be set up, said Baden-Württemberg Minister of Justice Marion Gentges (CDU).
“Reichsbürger” and so-called self-administrators do not recognize the Federal Republic of Germany as a state. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution assigns around 23,000 supporters to the entire scene – and the trend is rising. In the southwest it should be about 3800. According to the assessment, there are also violent and right-wing extremists among them. Some of the scene are in possession of guns.
