(21 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Frankfurt, Germany – 21 May 2024
1. Federal prosecutor Kai Lohse
2. Camera operators:
3. SOUNDBITE (German) Kai Lohse, federal prosecutor:
"The nine defendants are charged with the formation, essentially the formation, of a terrorist organisation and the preparation of a highly treasonable enterprise."
4. Cutaway of Lohse
5. SOUNDBITE (German) Kai Lohse, federal prosecutor:
"We are convinced, as we have stated in the indictment, that the aim of this organisation was to bring about a violent political upheaval in Germany. Various preparations served this purpose: recruitment, the procurement of equipment and weapons, military preparations, whether for a possible invasion of the Bundestag or for a nationwide deployment of military units."
6. Lohse
7. SOUNDBITE (German) Kai Lohse, federal prosecutor:
"We do not believe that this plan would have had any chance of success. However, we believe that even a rudimentary realisation of this plan would have inevitably led to an unforeseeable number of casualties to life and limb. But we would also have experienced a shattering of peaceful coexistence in our society."
8. Journalists
9. Lohse talking to journalists
STORYLINE:
The alleged leaders of a suspected far-right plot to topple Germany’s government went on trial on Tuesday, opening the most prominent proceedings in a case that shocked the country in late 2022.
Nine defendants faced judges at a special warehouse-like courthouse built on the outskirts of Frankfurt to accommodate the large number of defendants, lawyers and media dealing with the case.
About 260 witnesses are expected at a trial that the Frankfurt state court expects to extend well into 2025, one of three related trials that in total involve more than two dozen suspects.
The defendants include the highest-profile suspects in the alleged plot, among them Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, whom the group allegedly planned to install as Germany’s provisional new leader.
Also on trial are Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, a judge and former lawmaker with the far-right Alternative for Germany party; and former German military officers.
Most of them are charged with belonging to a terrorist organization that was founded in July 2021 with the aim of “doing away by force with the existing state order in Germany,” and also with “preparation of high treasonous undertaking.”
Reuss and Rüdiger von Pescatore, a former paratrooper, are alleged to have been the group’s ringleaders.
Prosecutors have said that the accused believed in a “conglomerate of conspiracy myths,” including Reich Citizans and QAnon ideology, and were convinced that Germany is ruled by a so-called deep state.
Adherents of the Reich Citizens movement reject Germany’s postwar constitution and have called for bringing down the government, while QAnon is a global conspiracy theory with roots in the United States.
AP video by Pietro De Cristofaro and Daniel Niemann
Produced by Kerstin Sopke
===========================================================
Clients are reminded to adhere to all listed restrictions and to check the terms of their licence agreements. For further assistance, please contact the AP Archive on: Tel +44(0)2074827482 Email: info@aparchive.com.
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/09033ee2121949b8891d720b4bb56a5b
