Eight on trial accused of seeking to establish Nazi state

Eight young men accused of being part of a German extremist group seeking to establish an independent state based on Nazi ideology went on trial in the eastern city of Dresden on Friday.

Prosecutors believe they are part of the militant Saxon Separatists, a group formed in 2020 whose roughly 20 members advocated racist, anti-Semitic and apocalyptic views.

The group's members were convinced that the German state was close to collapse, an event they planned to exploit to seize large parts of the eastern region of Saxony by force to establish an independent state governed by the ideology of Adolf Hitler's Nazi party, according to the indictment.

The suspects, aged 22 to 26, were arrested during raids in Saxony and Poland in November 2024.

They have been charged in the Dresden Higher Regional Court with involvement in a terrorist organization, preparation of a highly treasonous act among other offences.

The court has scheduled 67 trial dates, with the proceedings held amid high security precautions.

The defendants have assembled a massive defence team, with 19 attorneys taking their seats in court alongside them. One suspect is being represented by five lawyers, one of whom rejected the charges against his client in a press release.

"We reject the allegations made by the Attorney General in their entirety," defence attorney Dubravko Mandic said, describing the proceedings as "disproportionate."

He denied that the Saxon Separatists ever existed, and insisted his client never intended to kill anyone.

The 26-year-old defendant, a local politician from the Saxon town of Grimma, was found holding a long gun when he was arrested.

Before the indictment could be read out, the defence filed a motion to exclude the public from the proceedings.

Three members of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which narrowly missed first place in Saxony's regional elections in 2024 and is the largest opposition party at the national level, are also believed to have been part of the Saxon Separatists.

The regional AfD branch swiftly rejected the accusations at the time.

An AfD lawmaker at Saxony's state parliament was among the spectators taking their seats at the start of the trial.