By Enyichukwu Enemanna
A 75-year-old woman identified as Elisabeth R has been arrested by German police in Rhineland-Palatinate for plotting to kidnap Health Minister Karl Lauterbach and bring down the country’s power grid.
The suspect, a Professor of Theology from the University of Mainz has worked as a protestant pastor.
Elisabeth R was arrested in the state of Saxony and her home was searched and suspected of being the ringleader of a radical group that plotted to abduct the country’s health minister.
The prosecutors, according to Reuters, said four other suspects of her group called ‘United Patriots’ that opposed COVID-19 restrictions were arrested in April following a foiled abduction.
The prosecutors said a magistrate will later decide whether she should be remanded in custody as they added, “This grouping had set itself the goal of creating civil war-like conditions in Germany and thus ultimately to overthrow the federal government and parliamentary democracy.”
Elisabeth R was active in the militant anti-vax movement that holds Lauterbach accountable for the country’s hawkish approach toward COVID-19 and sees him as their arch-enemy.
The septuagenarian promoted conspiracy theories about the “secretive remodelling of brain structures” in this context and made anti-Semitic remarks about the “world Jewry.”
She was equally accused of being involved in the procurement of weapons and explosives. The retired teacher was also said to have held recruitment talks with potential candidates to join the association.
