German Far-Right Group Sentenced for Kidnapping Plot Against Health Minister

A Koblenz court has sentenced five individuals linked to a far-right group for conspiring to kidnap Health Minister Karl Lauterbach and destabilize the government through violent means, revealing serious threats to national security.

Five members of a German far-right extremist group have been sentenced to prison for their involvement in a conspiracy that aimed to kidnap the country’s Health Minister, Karl Lauterbach. This radical faction, labeled as "ringleaders" of a "terrorist organization," sought to incite civil disorder through violent measures, as reported by the Koblenz higher regional court.

The defendants, comprising four men aged 46 to 58 and a 77-year-old woman, were convicted after a nearly two-year trial. They planned to carry out the kidnapping of Lauterbach—a prominent advocate of strict Covid-19 measures during the pandemic—alongside a sabotage operation intended to incapacitate Germany’s power grid. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser highlighted the considerable threat this group posed to national security during the trial proceedings.

The convictions included sentences ranging from five years and nine months to eight years for the four principal members, while a fifth received a lesser sentence of two years and ten months. The identities of those sentenced have not been revealed to the public.

The group is reportedly connected to the Citizens of the Reich movement, which mistakenly believes that the German Empire continues to exist, despite its dissolution in 1918. The conspiracy aligns with radical ideologies, including elements from the QAnon conspiracy theory movement popular among some factions of Donald Trump’s followers in the United States.

Post-verdict, Lauterbach expressed gratitude towards law enforcement for their efforts, affirming that the state has the capacity to protect itself against such violent conspiratorial threats. Faeser emphasized the government’s resolve to counteract these extremist factions, stating, “The violent plans for a coup... have shown an enormous threat.” The court's decision is part of a broader crackdown on far-right groups challenging the legitimacy of modern German governance.