One of the largest court proceedings in German history began yesterday, with the first of three trials of a group of far-right conspirators who had planned to violently overthrow the country’s parliament. The network is so extensive and their plans so vast that, for a mixture of logistical and security reasons, the 27 people expected in the dock have been divided into three separate groups. Nine of those appeared yesterday, Monday 29 April, in court, identified as the “military wing” behind the group leader, the self-proclaimed Heinrich XIII, Prince Reuss, 72 years old: he will be the first to be tried in the southern city of Stuttgart with the charge of terrorism. Prince Reuss, an anti-Semitic businessman, descends from an aristocratic family and founded the group with the explicit desire to forcibly eliminate the state order. In the event of a successful coup d’état, he should have been declared provisional head of a new German state, which would have redesigned the country according to the borders of 1937. We talk about it with Lorenzo Monfregola, a freelance journalist who collaborates with various newspapers, including ANSA, Aspenia, Eastwest, Le Grand Continent. | Ministers from France, Germany and Poland revealed on Monday (29 April) that the Russian “Portal Kombat” disinformation network continued to grow, with new websites targeting 19 member states and the Western Balkans, and called for more resources to tackle online disinformation ahead of the European elections in June. The revelations contribute to the EU’s efforts “to devitalize [gli sforzi di propaganda] and raise citizens’ awareness” weeks before the June 6-9 European elections, said French EU Minister Jean-Noël Barrot. Meanwhile, the EU would be ready to initiate formal proceedings against Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, because it fears that it is not doing enough to counter Russian disinformation before the European elections in June: we talk about it with Mattia Bagnoli, ANSA correspondent from Brussels and correspondent Luigi Spinola.
30 Apr 2024
