Germany's Interior Ministry had outstanding arrest warrants against 189 suspects deemed members of far-right groups that do not recognize the modern German state, media group RND reported on Thursday. 

Authorities said the suspects were part of "Reichsbürger" ("citizens of the Reich") or "Selbstverwalter" ("self-administrators") groups, which claim either to live in the defunct German Empire, or on soil they have unilaterally declared to be independent within Germany.

The figure was published on September 30, 2024 in response to a parliamentary request for information from the socialist Left Party.

Why are those suspects wanted?

In total, 254 arrest warrants were open against such suspects, the ministry said, with some facing more than one warrant. 

There were 43 individuals wanted for at least one violent crime, and three accused of several violent crimes.

The ministry said 20 of the warrants were for violent political crime, and another 77 for politically motivated non-violent crimes like forgery, coercion or inciting racial violence.

It classified the remaining warrants as being for "the area of general criminality without political motivation." 

German authorities believe that more than 20 of the people sought are residing abroad; some of them have been at large for years. 

Between the end of March and September last year, 93 fresh warrants of this kind were issued against either "Reichsbürger" or "Selbstverwalter," the data showed.

What are Reichsbürger and Selbstverwalter?

"Reichsbürger" typically deny the legitimacy and existence of the modern German state and the 1918 dissolution of the defunct German Empire.

Their ideas of what, and where, the German state is are "directly in opposition to the territorial integrity of our neighboring states and with that against efforts at understanding between nations," according to the Interior Ministry.

Antisemitism has also often been part of some of the group's members' ideology, the ministry said, in some cases including stances like Holocaust denial. 

Members of the other group, "Selbstverwalter," claim to see their legal position in Germany similarly, but instead base their argument on their having unilaterally declared their property sovereign and independent.

"With their behavior, Selbstverwalter want above all to resist paying taxes and other demands like foreclosures," the ministry said.

Multiple trials connected to an alleged group of Reichsbürger accused of plotting to violently overthrow the government are ongoing around the country.

The most prominent defendant is Heinrich XIII Prince Reus, a descendant of German nobility born a private citizen in 1951. The group are accused of plotting to install him as head of a future state.

msh/dj (epd, open sources)