2024-07-18 21:46:17
Eight alleged members of the Reuss group are on trial in Munich. One defendant is now giving extensive testimony – not only about her astrological activities, but also about the matter at hand.
In the Munich “Reich Citizens” trial against alleged members of the group around Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, the accused astrologer Hildegard L. defends herself against key charges: in particular, she denies having co-founded a terrorist organization and having deliberately arranged contacts for spying on the German Bundestag. In addition, in a statement read out by her lawyers before the Munich Higher Regional Court, she denies that the group had prepared a violent coup in Germany: “We had not planned a putsch.”
L. and seven other suspected members of the Reuß group have been in custody since June München in court. This is the group that became known after a large-scale anti-terror raid at the end of 2022. Reuß and the alleged ringleaders are on trial in Frankfurt, and alleged members of the “military arm” are on trial in Stuttgart. According to the indictment, the 26 accused are said to have planned a violent overthrow of the federal government and knowingly accepted deaths in the process. L. is said to have been one of the founding members and later repeatedly recruited new members, such as the former AfD member of the Bundestag Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, whose “astrological advisor” she was.
In her statement to the court, L. argues that no coup was planned – rather, it was assumed that a so-called “alliance” of several nations would act against the government and establish a “real democracy”. However, she admits to having heard that the intervention of the “alliance” would probably have been followed by “activity” in the Bundestag by an ex-military man who was on trial in Frankfurt. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office considers claims by members of the group – that they themselves did not want to use violence, but only the “alliance” – to be refuted after their investigations.
In particular, L. denies that she co-founded the association at the end of July 2021. The background to the meeting at the time was the rejection of the state’s anti-coronavirus policy and the concern about compulsory vaccination of children. “At the time, we felt we were in trouble because of the corona measures.” But she did not arrange anything with anyone, she did not found anything, and therefore she was not able to recruit anyone for any project. And she did not specifically put anyone in touch with Malsack-Winkemann in order to enable spying on the Bundestag.
However, L. admits in her statement that she knew about later shooting training, but considered it a “boy’s thing” that she had no interest in. And she also knew about plans for homeland security companies that were supposed to replace the police, and heard at meetings about planned “purges”. “And I repeated it without thinking. I wish I had never said such things.”
L.’s statement repeatedly states that she took representations and conspiracy theories on relevant Telegram and other channels at face value and “at some point believed them to be the only truth”. “Today, with plenty of distance, I regret that I uncritically adopted and spread all these things,” her lawyer said. She perceived the Corona measures as an attack on freedom and health. “That’s how it escalated.” In fact, however, L. does not deny having attended several meetings of the association’s “council” (similar to a cabinet of a legitimate government), but not as a “full member”.