A suspected terrorist from Germany's far-right Reich Citizens, a domestic terrorist group, made a broad confession before the Dusseldorf Higher Regional Court on Wednesday.
The suspect expressly admitted membership of a terrorist organization and participating in plans to commit high treason, he said in statements delivered by his defence lawyer.
"I would like to distance myself from my radical ideas at the time. The whole thing as such is true. I got myself into this nonsense," he said.
A trial is under way of the Reich Citizens group, which allegedly planned to violently overthrow the German government, involving several alleged members, including suspected ringleader Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss.
The suspect said he did not see himself as a "Reich citizen," adding, "I wanted to get out of the whole story."
He said he had increasingly distanced himself from the ideology but just did not know how to get out. He also denied being part of plans to kidnap former chancellor Angela Merkel.
However, did say he had been willing to carry out attacks on power lines.
Reich Citizens, or Reichsbürger in German, claim the historical German Reich, founded in 1871 with an emperor at the head, continues to exist and did not end with Germany's defeat in World War II in 1945.
They do not recognize the Federal Republic of Germany, or its constitutional structures such as parliament. They also do not believe they should pay taxes, fines or social security contributions.
Germany's domestic intelligence service estimates there are around 23,000 people involved in the movement.
The coup plot was uncovered during a large-scale anti-terrorism raid in December 2022.
The plotters are said to have already worked out how they would organize a state with Prince Reuss as head of state.