Nine alleged members of a far-right extremist group accused of plotting to overthrow the German government will go on trial in Stuttgart beginning on April 29, the court announced on Wednesday.
The defendants are accused of membership in a terrorist group from the far-right "Reich Citizens" scene, which rejects the legitimacy of Germany's post-war democratic government.
The nine defendants, who are between the ages of 42 and 60, are also all charged with conspiracy to engage in a highly treasonous enterprise.
The defendants also include a man who allegedly shot at police officers with a semi-automatic rifle, wounding two, during a raid on his apartment in the south-western German town of Reutlingen in March 2023.
That man is charged with attempted murder, dangerous bodily harm, resisting and assaulting law enforcement officers, according to the court. He and another defendant are also accused of violating Germany's War Weapons Control Act.
The lengthy proceedings are scheduled to continue into January 2025.
Alleged members of the plot were captured in spectacular large-scale police raids across Germany and abroad in December 2022. German federal prosecutors have charged a total of 27 suspects in cases filed in several courts around the country.
Authorities have accused Heinrich XIII Prince Reuß, a German aristocrat and entrepreneur, of being the ringleader of the alleged plot. Reuß and other alleged leaders are facing a separate trial.
According to prosecutors, the defendants in Stuttgart allegedly joined the plot between the spring and summer of 2022 and were involved in various functions of the group's supposed "military arm," which allegedly planned to take control of the country by force.
They allegedly began efforts to establish a country-wide system of 286 militarily organized units, dubbed "Homeland Defence Companies" (Heimatschutzkompanien).
