THE trial of five far-right extremistswho planned to kidnap the Minister of Health with the aim of provoking a civil war in Germany, started today in Koblenz.

This case is an example of the rise of the grudge against politicians in the country, commented the minister who had been targeted, Karl Lauterbach, in an interview he gave to the German magazine Der Spiegel.

The trial has been hotly anticipated in Germany, where far-right extremism ranks at the forefront of threats facing the country. The ideology of the “Reichsbürger”, the “Citizens of the Reich” who are opposed to democratic values, has seen a significant rise mainly after the bans implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Four men and one woman are on trial for plotting to “violently create conditions of civil war in Germany,” according to the federal prosecutor’s office in charge of terrorism cases. The plan involved kidnapping the health minister of Olaf Solz’s government, who was unpopular in circles protesting the restrictive measures imposed due to the pandemic. The group wanted to “cause the overthrow of the government and the German republic”according to the indictment.

The project involved three phases. In the first, they would sabotage electricity infrastructure to cause blackouts across the country. The kidnapping of the minister would follow, since his bodyguards would be killed beforehand. By their actions they would create conditions of “civil war” and appoint a new leader, around whom they themselves would assume a “central role” in the executive power.

The only woman, 75-year-old Elisabeth R., had the role of “spiritual guide” of the group, as Attorney General Wolfgang Barrott said today. Over the years he had developed “a way of thinking that was based on anti-Semitism,” he added. The retired teacher and her accomplices questioned the legitimacy of the Federal Republic and dreamed of a return to the Second Reich of 1871, when Prussian King William I had been crowned emperor.

However, they would make some “adjustments” to this regime, for example giving women the right to vote.

The group attempted to curry favor with Russian President Vladimir Putin and sent him a letter written by Elizabeth R. They also planned to approach Polish President Andrzej Duda, with the same goal.

During the reading of the indictment Elizabeth R. almost constantly had her head bent over a trash can. “I’m afraid I’m going to throw up,” she said in a shaky voice in court as her co-accused listened impassively.

A few months after the arrest of the five, German authorities dismantled another, armed group of conspirators involving an aristocrat and ex-military who planned to overthrow the institutions and attack the Bundestag.