Reichsbürger extremist sentenced to 10 years in prison
March 24, 2023
An alleged member of Germany's Reichsbürger extremist movement was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Friday.
The man was convicted of attempted murder.
The Reichsbürger, meaning "Citizens of the Reich" in German, are a far-right group that denies the legitimacy of the modern German state. They believe that the German Reich founded in 1871 still exists.
The man was the first suspected member of the group to face charges from the federal prosecutor in court.
The verdict comes two days after police conducted a series of raids linked to the Reichsbürger scene, covering eight German states and neighboring Swizterland.
A policeman was injured after shorts were fired during one of the raids.
What else do we know about the verdict?
The 62-year old man was convicted of attempted murder, bodily harm, resisting and attacking enforcement officials, leaving the scene of an accident without authorization and drunk driving.
The man's driver's license was withdrawn and his car confiscated.
The Stuttgart state court said that the defendant became increasingly radicalized over recent years.
Judges said that they considered it had been demonstrated that the defendant had acted out of an ideology according to which the law did not apply to him.
He had described police officers as "combatants" and "terrorists" in chat messages and letters, and said in 2021 that he had the right to "eliminate [them] without punishment."
A police patrol unsuccessfully tried to stop the man three times for speeding, the court said.
The court said that the man drove into a police officer during a second stop, inflicting serious head injuries. The man was stopped by a further patrol after police had fired 25 shots at his car.
The defendant was ordered to pay €30,000 ($32,600) in compensation to the injured police officer. The court said that the officer was still unable to serve due to post-traumatic stress disorder.
The man also allegedly attacked a woman in 2021 after she refused to sell him alcohol as he was not wearing a medical mask.
sdi/nm (AP, AFP, dpa)