The Berlin judge and former AfD member of the Bundestag Birgit Malsack-Winkemann was one of the suspects who was arrested in the nationwide raid against the so-called Reichsbürger scene. "We will exhaust all instruments to remove the accused completely from the judiciary," said Berlin's Senator for Justice Lena Kreck (left) on Wednesday on request.
You can read a more detailed report on the major raid here:
Malsack-Winkemann sat for the AfD in the Bundestag from 2017 to 2021, in March 2022 she returned to the judiciary and works at the Berlin Regional Court. From the point of view of the federal prosecutor, the arrested persons belong to a terrorist organization. On Wednesday morning, the authority had a total of 25 people from the so-called Reich Citizens' Scene arrested nationwide. The federal prosecutor accuses the accused of having prepared the overthrow of the state.
As the “Spiegel” reports, according to the investigators, the terrorist group planned an armed attack on the Bundestag in autumn 2021 and the arrest of politicians. As a result, according to the Reich citizens, nationwide unrest should apparently break out, whereupon parts of the security forces would have joined them. As a former member of the Bundestag, Malsack-Winkemann should not only have internal knowledge of the Reichstag building. The 58-year-old also owns several firearms as a sports shooter. Her attorney declined to comment on the allegations. According to information from "Zeit", Malsack-Winkemann was to take over the role of Minister of Justice after the overthrow. The woman, who is considered a conspiracy theorist and esoteric among party colleagues, had been monitored for months.
Senator Kreck had recently tried to prevent the 58-year-old from returning to the judiciary, but had failed before the service court for judges. "The investigations have to be awaited, but apparently the Senate administration was right in its assessment," she said after the arrest.
The Berlin Senate Department of Justice and Kreck wanted to retire Malsack-Winkemann. As a judge, she was no longer impartial, they argued in court. She had repeatedly and publicly "excluded refugees and belittled them because of their origin" in the Bundestag and in debates and on the Internet "made constructed, obviously false statements about refugees".
Malsack-Winkemann said at the time that she had separated the tasks and after leaving the Bundestag "reacted immediately and distanced herself from it". The court had rejected her retirement with reference to the freedom of speech in the Bundestag guaranteed by the Basic Law. The decision of last October is not yet final.
