Self-styled 'king of Germany' stands trial over criminal group
The gist
Peter Fitzek, who crowned himself 'king' of a self-declared German 'kingdom', went on trial in Duesseldorf on charges of leading a criminal organisation.
The case tests how Germany handles a Reichsbürger group it banned in 2025.
How it unfolded
- 2012Fitzek, a former chef and karate instructor, declared himself 'supreme sovereign' of his 'kingdom', had himself crowned in ermine robes with a medieval sword, and founded the KRD.
- 2022Fitzek told the BBC he denied any violent intentions but called the German state 'destructive and sick'. Separately that year, dozens of people, many of them Reichsbürger, were arrested over a plot to overthrow the government in Berlin.
- 2023Fitzek told AFP that founding the organisation was the only answer to the 'mass manipulation' he saw in German society.
Key terms
- Reichsbürger
- Anticonstitutional revisionist groups in Germany that reject the legitimacy of the modern German state.
- Higher Regional Court
- A higher court in Germany, above the regional courts in the judicial hierarchy.
Source: Wikipedia