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"Reich citizen" Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss is taken away by the police in December 2022

Photo: Boris Roessler / dpa

The Federal Criminal Police Office has arrested three more suspected comrades-in-arms of the "Reichsbürger" ideologue Heinrich XIII, Prince Reuss. A spokesman for the Federal Prosecutor's Office confirmed this to SPIEGEL on request.

Accordingly, two men and a woman were arrested on Monday evening in Baden-Württemberg and Lower Saxony. They are now to be brought before an investigating judge of the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe, who will decide whether the arrest warrants against them will be executed. The Federal Prosecutor's Office accuses all three of being members of a terrorist organization.

According to SPIEGEL information, one of the three detainees is Johanna F.-J. In the last Bundestag election, she ran unsuccessfully for the »Querdenker« party »Die Basis«.

According to the investigation, she is said to have tried, among other things, to establish contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on behalf of the Reuss troops. Apparently, Russia was to be won over to the group's alleged coup plans, according to judicial files.

Cult-like troop

Heinrich XIII, Prince Reuss and two dozen suspected co-conspirators were arrested in December. About 5000,<> police officers were deployed during the raid. It was the largest anti-terror operation in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The group adhered to the ideology of the "Reichsbürger" movement and other conspiracy theories. According to investigators, she was seeking a coup d'état. The "use of military means and violence against state representatives" is also said to have been planned.

In addition to Prince Reuss, the ringleader of the sect-like troop is said to have been the former elite soldier Rüdiger von Pescatore. Other active and former soldiers and police officers are also said to have joined the terrorist group. According to the investigators, the conspirators also include the Berlin judge and former member of the Bundestag for the AfD, Birgit Malsack-Winkemann.

In March, there had been another raid in the environment of the group. During one of the searches, a man shot at a police officer of a special task force in Reutlingen.

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