German court set to acquit alleged member of coup and kidnapping plot
The trial of a woman in Germany charged in connection with a failed coup and plot to kidnap the country's health minister appears to be heading for an acquittal.
Both her defence lawyers and the prosecution on Friday argued for the 39-year-old to be set free. The senior public prosecutor said that the allegations against her had not been confirmed.
The defendant was accused of being a member of a terrorist organization, preparing high treason and possessing knuckle dusters. She was alleged to have participated in planning a violent coup against the German government in 2022, which included a plan to kidnap Health Minister Karl Lauterbach.
The prosecutor argued however the woman had approached the police on the fringes of a demonstration against the government's coronavirus measures in February 2022 and warned them of the impending crimes.
"I also believe that she was afraid of reprisals from the group," the prosecutor told the higher regional court in the northern town of Celle.
The defendant described in detail during the trial how she was recruited by the so-called Kaiserreichsgruppe (Empire Group), which was behind the plot.
"They were completely unscrupulous, they didn't care that people would die," she said in mid-February.
In his closing statement, the woman's defence lawyer emphasized that his client had warned the police and requested that she be acquitted.
The verdict is to be announced on March 21. Several other courts across Germany continue to hear cases against alleged members of the Kaiserreichsgruppe.
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