Eight young men have gone on trial in German city of Dresden, accused of attempting to establish an independent state based on Nazi ideology.
According to prosecutors, the suspects were members of a group calling itself the Saxon Separatists, founded in 2020 and believed to have around 20 members.
The group allegedly held racist, antisemitic and apocalyptic beliefs and was convinced that the German state was on the brink of collapse.
The indictment says the men planned to exploit that collapse to seize large parts of eastern Saxony and create a Nazi state of their own.
Prosecutors allege the group planned assassinations of public officials and acts of ethnic cleansing. The Dresden prosecutor's office also claims the suspects took part in paramilitary training on several occasions in preparation for violent action.
The group is said to have included three members of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, an allegation swiftly denied by the party's Saxony branch.
The defendants, aged between 22 and 26, were arrested in November 2024 during operations in Saxony and Poland. They face charges including membership of a terrorist organisation and preparation for high treason.
The trial is taking place under tight security, with 67 days of hearings scheduled.
A lawyer representing one of the accused has rejected the charges, claiming in a statement that the Saxon Separatists never existed and that his client never intended to kill anyone.
