FIVE people went on trial in Germany today, accused of planning a far-right coup and plotting to kidnap the country’s health minister.

Four men and a woman are accused of treason and of founding or being members of a terrorist organisation.

Federal prosecutors say the group is linked to the Reich Citizens scene that rejects the legitimacy of Germany’s post-war constitution and has similarities to the Sovereign Citizens and QAnon movements in the United States.

Prosecutors say they intended to create “conditions similar to civil war” by using explosives to cause nationwide blackouts before kidnapping Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, a prominent advocate of strict coronavirus measures.

There were no indications the group, which called itself United Patriots, was close to launching a coup. But prosecutors said the group’s procurement of weapons and money showed they were “dangerous criminals who wanted to implement their plans.”

The men, whose names were not released for privacy reasons, were arrested in April last year.

Police at the time seized 22 firearms, including a Kalashnikov rifle, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, as well as large sums of cash, gold and silver.

The woman, who was arrested six months later, is alleged to have drafted numerous documents for the group including an “arrest warrant” for Mr Lauterbach. 

The retired teacher also wrote letters addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Polish President Andrzej Duda.

Mr Lauterbach told German weekly Der Spiegel that he hopes for a “hard, fair verdict” that would deter others from planning similar plots.

The case is separate from that of the more than two dozen people arrested in December, also for planning to topple the government. 

Those far-right plotters reportedly include members of the extremist Citizens of the Reich movement, which has conducted violent attacks and espouses racist and anti-semitic conspiracy theories.

They also refuse to recognise the modern German state.