The prince, the politician and the paratrooper: Who's accused over the alleged coup plot in Germany?
A minor German aristocrat, a former German MP, an ex-paratrooper, and a Russian accomplice.
The disparate group of people arrested in dawn raids across Germany -- as well as in Austria and Italy -- on Wednesday morning don't seem to have too much in common but are linked by a desire to overthrow the government and install their own regime instead, according to prosecutors.
So who are the "Citizens of the Reich" -- Reichsbürger -- behind this alleged plot?
With an estimated 20,000 members, the Reichsbürger movement brings together strands of disaffected, anti-establishment, right-wingers and others: those either angry at the post-WWII federal republic, or nostalgic for a Germany long gone.
"The Reichsbürger have existed for a long time but has been more prominent in the last few years," explained Jakob Guhl from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue.
"There are many streams to it, it's a loose movement which has a few different sub-tribes, if you will, including competing people who think of themselves as the leader, or people trying to form alternative kingdoms," he told Euronews.
Some of those sub-tribes that Guhl outlined subscribe to an ideal of Germany as it was in 1937 during the Third Reich; while others want to see the return of the 1871 Second Reich.
Other Reichsbürger sub-tribes reject modern state structures and refuse to pay taxes or take part in a census, and don't carry ID cards either.
"During COVID this pre-existing movement managed to connect with quite a few parts of other far-right groups, the people involved in anti-lockdown protests. They're allied with the far-right Alternative for Germany AfD political party, with people critical of established medicine and anti-vaccine groups -- people who believe
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