“Prosecutors have brought high treason charges against five people who planned to kidnap Health Minister Karl Lauterbach and were ready to kill to overthrow the German government,” the Attorney General said in a statement, quoted by Reuters.
Five people were charged with treason. According to the statement of the Attorney General, they planned to kidnap the Minister of Health German Karl Lauterbach and “were ready to kill to overthrow the government”. Formed in mid-January 2022, the group has set itself the goal of “creating civil war-like conditions by force” in the hope of overthrowing the government and parliamentary democracy, the prosecutor said in a statement.
All five have been in custody since last year, when authorities first revealed details of the alleged plot.
According to prosecutors, the suspects made increasingly concrete preparations and formed two separate branches of their group, one military and the other administrative.
Plans to kidnap a minister
In a three-stage plan, they wanted to cause a nationwide power outage, kidnap Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, kill his bodyguards if necessary, and then convene an assembly to overthrow the government and appoint a new leader.
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