A member of Germany's far-right Reich Citizens extremist group made a broad confession before the Dusseldorf Higher Regional Court on Wednesday, as prosecutors unveiled the movement's plans to seize power by overthrowing the German government.
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.
Multiple trials are under way across Germany of members of the Reich Citizens group, which allegedly planned to violently overthrow the German government. The suspected ringleader of the coup plot was Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss.
According to the indictment, the group devised a three-stage plan, beginning with attacks on 16 German power lines to cause a four-week blackout, resulting in chaos across the country.
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach was to be kidnapped, while body doubles of Chancellor Olaf Scholz or President Walter Steinmeier were to be used to announce the dismissal of the government.
Finally, a group of 277 men in Berlin would have appointed a new government, replacing the country's Basic Law with the imperial constitution of 1871 as a model.
Suspect confesses in Dusseldorf trial
On trial in Dusseldorf, the suspect said he had renounced the far-right ideology since his arrest.
He denied being part of plans to kidnap former chancellor Angela Merkel, but admitted he had said he was willing to carry out attacks on power lines.
"I was supposed to look at how many power lines come from Belgium," he said. "But I was never there and simply told them there were two power lines," he added.
The man, a technician in a regional hospital in Dusseldorf, became radicalized during the coronavirus pandemic, when he stopped consuming "mainstream media" and started sourcing information exclusively via YouTube and the social media platform Telegram.
He said he was increasingly distancing himself from the Reich Citizens group before his arrest but did not know how to leave. "I already knew quite a lot at that point. They also wanted to get weapons. Looking back, I could have asked for police protection," he added.
The suspect said via his lawyers that he was ready to make a "full confession," but the presiding judge at times expressed doubts as to whether the defendant had really distanced himself from the group.
The Higher Regional Court has scheduled 20 trial days for the proceedings until mid-September. The man, who has been in custody since October, faces up to ten years in prison.
The Reich Citizens movement
Reich Citizens claim the historical German Reich, founded in 1871 under Kaiser Wilhelm I, 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, nor constitutional structures such as the German parliament. Members also do not believe they should legally 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.