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GERMANY EXPLAINED

Weichnachtsamnestie: Why Germany lets prisoners out early around Christmas

Christmas is a time to spend with your family in Germany: even for convicted criminals. A festive policy allows hundreds of prisoners to be released early every year. But one state refuses to grant this amnesty.

Published: 19 December 2023 12:32 CET
Christmas tree in prison
A Christmas tree in prison. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Friso Gentsch

Christmas is a time to spend with your family, and in most states of Germany that’s true even for convicted criminals.

That’s what the Weihnachtsamnestie, or Christmas amnesty, is about, and this year more than 670 prisoners will be released over the holidays, though this is fewer than last year.

The amnesty applies to prisoners who would be due to be released around the end of the year anyway so that they can enjoy the holidays at home.

The largest number of prisoners released is in the southern state of Baden-Württemburg, where around 200 people were allowed to leave their cells from November. Almost 100 each will be released in Hesse and Berlin, and 75 in Rhineland-Palatinate.

READ ALSO: What happens when a foreigner gets arrested in Germany? 

Not all prisoners jump at the opportunity: in Lower Saxony, four prisoners refused the offer this year, wanting to ring in the bells behind bars.

There is one state that refuses to participate in this festive tradition, and it’s a strongly catholic one. You may have guessed it already: Bavaria.

The state is known for its tough approach to criminal justice and doesn’t release prisoners out early to enjoy the Weihnachtsmärkte (Christmas markets).

It should be noted that in cases of crimes of sexual violence there has to be a case review before prisoners are released.

READ ALSO: Where to get free immigration advice in Germany?

Why does Germany have a Christmas amnesty for criminals?

The move is is intended as a gesture to help prisoners reintegrate into society. 

“Early release on the occasion of Christmas is intended to make reintegration into society easier,” said Baden-Württemberg’s justice minister Marion Gentges.

Meanwhile, Hesse’s justice minister Roman Poseck added that prisoners should be able to get support set up before the festive season is fully underway.

He said: “In addition, the prisoners should be given the opportunity to take advantage of offers of help, to visit advice centres and to deal with authorities before they are impossible or difficult to reach due to the holidays.”

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CRIME

Nine face trial in Germany for alleged far-right coup plot

The first members of a far-right group that allegedly plotted to attack the German parliament and overthrow the government will go on trial in Stuttgart on Monday.

Published: 29 April 2024 08:32 CEST
Nine face trial in Germany for alleged far-right coup plot

Nine suspected participants in the coup plot will take the stand in the first set of proceedings to open in the sprawling court case, split among three courts in three cities.

The suspects are accused of having participated in the “military arm” of the organisation led by the minor aristocrat and businessman Prince Heinrich XIII Reuss.

The alleged plot is the most high-profile recent case of far-right violence, which officials say has grown to become the biggest extremist threat in Germany.

The organisation led by Reuss was an eclectic mix of characters and included, among others, a former special forces soldier, a former far-right MP, an astrologer, and a well-known chef.

Reuss, along with other suspected senior members of the group, will face trial in the second of the three cases, in Frankfurt in late May.

The group aimed to install him as head of state after its planned takeover.

Heinrich XIII arrested at his home following a raid in 2022.

Heinrich XIII arrested at his home following a raid in 2022. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Boris Roessler

The alleged plotters espoused a mix of “conspiracy myths” drawn from the global QAnon movement and the German Reichsbûrger (Citizens of the Reich) scene, according to prosecutors.

The Reichsbürger movement includes right-wing extremists and gun enthusiasts who reject the legitimacy of the modern German republic.

Its followers generally believe in the continued existence of the pre-World War I German Reich, or empire, under a monarchy, and several groups have declared their own states.

Such Reichsbürger groups were driven by “hatred of our democracy”, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in Berlin on Sunday.

“We will continue our tough approach until we have fully exposed and dismantled militant ‘Reichsbürger’ structures,” she added.

READ ALSO: Who was involved in the alleged plot to overthrow German democracy?

‘Treasonous undertaking’

According to investigators, Reuss’s group shared a belief that Germany was run by members of a “deep state” and that the country could be liberated with the help of a secret international alliance.

The nine men to stand trial in Stuttgart are accused by prosecutors of preparing a “treasonous undertaking” as part of the Reichsbürger plot.

As part of the group, they are alleged to have aimed to “forcibly eliminate the existing state order” and replace it with their own institutions.

The members of the military arm were tasked with establishing, supplying and recruiting new members for “territorial defence companies”, according to prosecutors.

Among the accused are a special forces soldier, identified only as Andreas M. in line with privacy laws, who is said to have used his access to scout out army barracks.

Others were allegedly responsible for the group’s IT systems or were tasked with liaising with the fictitious underground “alliance”, which they thought would rally to the plotters’ aid when the coup was launched.

The nine include Alexander Q., who is accused by federal prosecutors of acting as the group’s propagandist, spreading conspiracy theories via the Telegram messaging app.

Two of the defendants, Markus L. and Ralf S., are accused of weapons offences in addition to the charge of treason.

Markus L. is also accused of attempted murder for allegedly turning an assault rifle on police and injuring two officers during a raid at his address in March 2023.

Police swooped in to arrest most of the group in raids across Germany in December 2022 and the charges were brought at the end of last year.

Three-part trial 

Proceedings in Stuttgart are set to continue until early 2025.

In all, 26 people are accused in the huge case against the extremist network, with trials also set to open in Munich and Frankfurt.

Reuss will stand trial in Frankfurt from May 21st, alongside another ringleader, an ex-army officer identified as Ruediger v.P., and a former MP for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Birgit Malsack-Winkemann.

The Reichsbürger group had allegedly organised a “council” to take charge after their planned putsch, with officials warning preparations were at an advanced stage.

The alleged plotters had resources amounting to 500,000 euros ($536,000) and a “massive arsenal of weapons”, according to federal prosecutors.

Long dismissed as malcontents and oddballs, believers in Reichsbuerger-type conspiracies have become increasingly radicalised in recent years and are seen as a growing security threat.

Earlier this month, police charged a new suspect in relation to another coup plot.

The plotters, frustrated with pandemic-era restrictions, planned to kidnap the German health minister, according to investigators.

Five other suspected co-conspirators in that plot went on trial in Koblenz last May.

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