2024-09-01 06:44:33
A former AfD member of the Bundestag is testifying again as a co-defendant in the Frankfurt trial of so-called Reich Citizens. She denies the allegations – and distances herself from co-defendants.
In the terror trial involving Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, former AfD Bundestag member Birgit Malsack-Winkemann denied having been involved in plans to storm the Bundestag. The former Berlin judge made her statement before the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court on Wednesday on the fifth day of the trial in a row.
She also rejected accusations by the prosecution that she had helped to draft a new constitution. What she had written on her notes, which were confiscated during searches, was nothing but brainstorming, the Darmstadt native explained on the 21st day of the trial. There was nothing on them about a new form of government. “The claims of the Federal Prosecutor General that I had drafted something and that the Council already had the basic principles of a constitution are not true,” said Malsack-Winkemann.
Specifically, the Federal Prosecutor General accuses her of having infiltrated other defendants into the Bundestag and scouting out the buildings with them. The now 60-year-old is said to have belonged to the so-called Council of Association. According to the indictment, the group planned an armed storming of the Bundestag in order to arrest members of parliament and bring about a system overthrow.
The 60-year-old denied that she had spied on parliament or had concrete plans to storm the Bundestag. “I don’t know how many times I’ve said it, but I can’t say it often enough to get it into people’s heads: the alliance should do everything.” The group’s worldview included an invented global military alliance called the “Alliance” – the group assumed that a system change was imminent, triggered by this alliance, Malsack-Winkemann had described in a previous meeting.
She also repeatedly described her dispute with Rüdiger von Pescatore, the alleged head of the group’s military arm. “Keywords: fire and water – that doesn’t fit,” she said. “We would be the last two to have planned something together.” According to her, von Pescatore probably wanted to exclude her from the group. Ultimately, however, a separation from the military arm is said to have taken place.
In Frankfurt, nine defendants are accused of being members of a terrorist organization or of supporting it. With two parallel trials in Munich and Stuttgart, a total of 26 alleged conspirators must answer for their actions in the complex. Until the verdict is reached, the defendants are presumed innocent.
The trial will continue on Tuesday, September 3.