25 Suspected Members and Supporters of a Terrorist Organisation Arrested and Raids Conducted in 11 Federal States against 52 Suspects in Total

Year of issue 2022
Date 07.12.2022

In the early morning hours of today (7 December 2022), the Federal Prosecutor’s Office had 22 suspected members and 3 suspected supporters of a terrorist organisation arrested after the investigating judge of the Federal Court of Justice had issued warrants for their arrest.

The suspected members of the terrorist organisation are the following German nationals:

Maximilian E.
Michael F.
Paul G.
Norbert G.
Markus H.
Frank H.
Matthias H.
Ruth L.
Birgit M.-W.
Andreas M.
Thomas M.
Harald P.
Heinrich XIII P. R.
René R.
Melanie R.
Ralf S.
Wolfram S.
Thomas T.
Marco v. H.
Rüdiger v. P.
Christian W. und
Peter W.

The following individuals were arrested as suspected supporters of the terrorist organisation:

Russian national Vitalia B.
German national Alexander Q. and
German national Frank R.

The arrests took place at various locations in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Saxony, Thuringia and, in one case, in Austria (Kitzbühel) and Italy (Perugia). Simultaneously, searches authorised by the investigating judge are ongoing, currently covering more than 130 properties at the aforementioned locations as well as in other German federal states (Brandenburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland). These measures are also directed against 27 additional suspects. Moreover, the premises of various non-suspicious individuals are being searched.

In detail:

A. The arrested individuals are strongly suspected of having participated as members in a domestic terrorist organisation (section 129a(1) no. 1 of the German Criminal Code [StGB]) or – in the case of Vitalia B., Alexander Q. and Frank R. – supported such an organisation (section 129a(5) sentence 1 of the German Criminal Code [StGB]). The suspected members Heinrich XIII P. R. and Rüdiger v. P. allegedly acted as ringleaders (section 129a(4) of the German Criminal Code [StGB]).

In essence, the arrest warrants set out the following facts:

The arrested suspects belong to a terrorist organisation which was formed, at the latest, in November 2021. This organisation set itself the goal to overthrow the existing state order in Germany and replace it with their own form of – already rudimentarily designed – government. The members of the organisation accepted that this plan could only be implemented by military force and violence against state representatives, including by means of murder. The suspects share a deep rejection of government institutions and the free democratic basic order of the Federal Republic of Germany. Accordingly, over time, they concluded that it would be necessary to violently eliminate this order and undertook concrete preparatory measures in this respect.

The organisation’s adherents follow a conglomerate of conspiracy myths consisting of narratives of the so-called ‘Reichsbürger’ and ‘QAnon’ ideology. They firmly believe that Germany is currently ruled by a so-called ‘Deep State’. In their opinion, liberation will be brought upon by the impending intervention of the ‘Alliance’ – a technically superior secret society of governments, intelligence services and militaries of different states, such as the Russian Federation and the United States of America. The organisation holds the firm conviction that representatives of the ‘Alliance’ are already present in Germany and that their attack on the ‘Deep State’ is imminent.

The organisation intended to abolish the remaining German state institutions and representatives and secure its own power, inter alia, by means of a future nation-wide network of homeland security units (‘Heimatschutzkompanien’) under its control. The organisation’s ‘military branch’ was supposed to destroy the constitutional democratic system in Germany, also on the county, municipal and local level (‘Kreise’, ‘Gemeinden’ and ‘Kommunen’). While the group was aware that the anticipated measures would likely cause deaths, it approvingly accepted such a scenario as necessary collateral damage on its path to changing the system in its entirety.

The organisation planned to install a transitional (military) government which – in line with typical ‘Reichsbürger’ narratives – would have had to negotiate a new state order for Germany with the victorious Allied Powers of World War II. In this respect, only the Russian Federation was deemed a suitable negotiating partner. Heinrich XIII P. R. had already contacted representatives of the Russian Federation in Germany. However, the investigations have not revealed any evidence so far that his contacts reacted positively to his objectives.

Based on their ideology, the arrested suspects initiated more and more detailed preparations, at the latest since November 2021. These included the planning of administration-like structures, procuring equipment, target practices, and recruiting new members for the organisation. The so-called ‘Council’, presided by Heinrich XIII P. R., served as the organisation’s central body. The organisation considered him as future head of state. Thomas T. assumed the role of his personal assistant. Since November 2021, the ‘Council’ members convened regularly and clandestinely in order to plan the intended taking of power in Germany and implement the organisation’s own government structures. Similar to a regular government, the ‘Council’ was composed of different departments, e.g. ‘Justice’, ‘Foreign’ and ‘Health’. The suspects Birgit M.-W., Paul G., Ruth L., René R. and Melanie R. were supposed to be in charge of said departments.

The ‘Council’ was accompanied by a ‘military branch’. Some of its members used to serve in the German Federal Armed Forces (‘Bundeswehr’). This part of the organisation was tasked with ensuring the intended taking of power in Germany by military force. It was supposed to be aided by a system of – partly already established – so-called homeland security units (‘Heimatschutzkompanien’), i.e., regional military-style armed units. Rüdiger v. P. acted as head of the ‘military branch’. He established a military command staff (‘Führungsstab’) consisting of Maximilian E., Michael F., Frank H., Thomas M., Wolfram S., Marco v. H., Christian W. and Peter W. The command staff was tasked, inter alia, with the recruitment of new members, the procurement of weapons and other types of equipment, the development of tap-proof communications and IT structures, target practices as well as plans for future accommodation and food services for the ‘homeland security units’. Norbert G., Markus H., Matthias H., Harald P. and Ralf S. were involved in these activities.

The main focus of the recruitment efforts were members of the Bundeswehr and the police. Therefore, the organisation held at least four meetings in Baden-Württemberg in summer 2022 where Rüdiger v. P., among others, promoted the group and its goals. In November 2022, Rüdiger v. P., Marco v. H, Michael F. and Thomas M. specifically approached police officers in Northern Germany to win them over. In October 2022, members of the ‘military branch’ secretly inspected barracks of the Bundeswehr in Hesse, Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria to explore their suitability for housing the organisation’s own troops after the intended coup.

B. Vitalia B. is strongly suspected of having supported the organisation, in particular, by helping Heinrich XIII P. R. make contact with Russian officials. Alexander Q. is said to have publicly campaigned for the group on the internet. Frank R. allegedly had a supporting role in tasks of the ‘military branch’.

C. The investigations have also given rise to the suspicion that individual members of the organisation made concrete preparations to forcibly gain access to the German Parliament (‘Bundestag’) with a small armed group. The details remain to be clarified. The further investigations will also focus on whether the crime of preparing a highly treasonous undertaking (section 83(1) of the German Criminal Code [StGB]) may have been committed.
D. Today’s searches are directed not only against the arrested individuals, but also against 27 additional suspects who are initially suspected of membership in or support of the terrorist organisation in question.

E. The investigations in the current case have been carried out in close cooperation with the German Federal Criminal Police Office (‘Bundeskriminalamt’), the State Criminal Police Offices (‘Landeskriminalämter’) of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (‘Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz’), the Federal Office for the Military Counterintelligence Service (‘Bundesamt für den Militärischen Abschirmdienst’) as well as the State Offices for the Protection of the Constitution (‘Landesämter für Verfassungsschutz’) of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Hesse and Thuringia. More than 3,000 security forces, Federal Criminal Police officers, special forces of the Federal Police (‘Bundespolizei’), the aforementioned State Criminal Police Offices and other police forces from Brandenburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland and Thuringia have been involved in today's arrests and searches.

F. The arrested suspects will be brought before the investigating judge of the Federal Court of Justice today and tomorrow (7 and 8 December 2022) who will communicate the arrest warrants to them and decide on their enforcement.