Reich citizen raid: Who is Birgit Malsack-Winkemann?

Arrest in the villa district: A well-known judge was arrested in Berlin in the “Reichsbürger” raid. The sports shooter should play an important role.

Early on Wednesday morning, the investigators arrived in Berlin’s villa district at Wannsee: Police officers and heavily armed special forces gathered in front of the terraced house of the former AfD member of the Bundestag Birgit Malsack-Winkemann. Then, at 6 a.m. sharp, the investigators break open the front door with a ram and arrest Malsack-Winkemann.

At the time, a large-scale raid was underway in eleven federal states in the so-called Reich Citizens’ Scene: 3,000 officers were on duty, and 25 people were arrested within a few hours. More than 130 objects are searched – you can find out more about the situation in the morning here.

The federal prosecutor’s office is conducting the investigation, accusing the accused of having prepared the overthrow of the state. According to media reports, the conspirators wanted to talk to Prince Henry XIII. Reuss to install a new head of state and also a new government.

22 of those arrested are said to be members of a terrorist organization, two of them ringleaders. Three others are considered supporters. There are also 27 other suspects, said the spokeswoman. “We don’t have a name for this association yet.”

The Berliner Malsack-Winkelmann is said to have played a significant role in the mysterious group. According to research by “Zeit”, Malsack-Winkemann, who also works as a judge at the Berlin district court in Berlin, is to become Minister of Justice in the post-revolutionary order that has been worked out by the “Reichsbürger” group.

Your task in the conspiratorial “council” would have been to draw the nationwide judiciary to the side of the conspiratorial group. Accordingly, the 58-year-old is said to be in the circle of conspirators surrounding Prince Henry XIII. Reuss urged that the attempted coup be started as soon as possible. As a former member of parliament, she has local knowledge in the Bundestag, and as a sports shooter she is said to have several firearms, as the “Spiegel” further reports.

Malsack-Winkemann is not unknown in Berlin, not only because she joined the right-wing populist AfD: she is a member of the party’s “wing”, which is considered extremist. After leaving the Bundestag in 2021, she returned to the bench of judges at the Berlin district court the following year – although the Senate Justice Administration wanted to prevent this. Malsack-Winkemann had repeatedly expressed conspiracy theory on the Internet.

The Senate Justice Department’s attempt to remove Malsack-Winkemann from the judiciary failed before the administrative court in mid-October. In the summer, Berlin’s Senator for Justice, Lena Kreck (left), warned against further employing Malsack-Winkemann in Berlin: there should be no doubt that the capital’s judges are loyal to the constitution. And: “The reputation of the independent judiciary must be preserved.”