Suspected German anti-government extremist convicted of shooting at police

BERLIN (AP) — A suspected anti-government extremist was convicted of attempted murder in Germany on Wednesday for firing at police who had come to search his home for an unauthorized weapon.

The Stuttgart state court sentenced the 55-year-old German citizen, whose name it didn’t release, to 14 1/2 years in prison. He was convicted of several counts of attempted murder, along with attacking and resisting officers and bodily harm.

The court said the defendant had for years been writing letters to authorities that were typical of the Reich Citizens scene, which rejects the legitimacy of Germany’s postwar constitution and has similarities to the Sovereign Citizens and QAnon movements in the United States.

In 2021, he moved to a farm in Boxberg in southwestern Germany, where he lived along with others with similar views in an isolated community. He showed signs of increasing radicalization. Earlier that year, his weapons license was revoked, and he didn’t respond to demands that he give up a pistol that he had owned legally.

In April 2022, police were sent to the farm to search the defendant’s apartment and secure the weapon. As police approached, he fired a total of 45 shots, the court said. One officer was wounded in the leg.

The defendant was arrested. Police searched the house and found several other firearms and more than 5,000 rounds of ammunition.

Prosecutors had sought a life sentence, while the defense team argued for acquittal. During his trial, the defendant apologized and said he had acted in panic.

The case is one of a number in which suspects are accused of being linked to the Reich Citizens scene — including an alleged coup plan that involved kidnapping the German health minister and an alleged plot led by a self-styled prince to topple the government.