German ‘King’ Peter Fitzek Faces Trial Over Alleg, Criminal Enterprise

A self-proclaimed monarch, Peter Fitzek, has begun trial in Düsseldorf on charges of leading a criminal organization alongside three associates.

Fitzek, 61, also known as Peter the First, is a member of the banned Reichsbürger movement, which seeks to set up a parallel German government.

Reichsbürger groups are viewed by German authorities as conspiracy‑theory networks that reject the legitimacy of the Federal Republic.

Prosecutors allege the group plotted to create alternative state structures, including banking, insurance, currency, and forged identity documents.

Fitzek denies any wrongdoing and claims his detention violates human‑rights protections.

The four defendants—Fitzek, Benjamin M, Mathias B, and Martin S—could each face up to ten years in prison if convicted.

Fitzek, a former chef and karate instructor, proclaimed himself “supreme sovereign” of the Kingdom of Germany (KRD) in 2012, adopting regal attire and a medieval sword.

The KRD attracted roughly 6,000 members, becoming the largest Reichsbürger‑affiliated group, and Fitzek acquired properties nationwide.

In 2025, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt banned the KRD, leading to the arrest of Fitzek and his three co‑defendants.

According to the indictment, Fitzek and his lieutenants declared themselves “divine beings” and issued legal decrees, operating a banking and insurance network with branches in Dresden, Ulm, Menden and Wittenberg, and a registration office that produced counterfeit IDs.

Additional charges include organized forgery, tax evasion, and funneling millions of euros through undeclared revenues.

From 2020 to 2025, the KRD is said to have amassed about €10 million via unauthorized financial activities, donations, gifts, and seminar fees, without reporting taxes or social contributions.

Prosecutors claim the group accepted significant assets, including cash, land, and 7 kg of gold, while evading gift‑tax obligations.

The organization allegedly recruited businesses by promising tax‑free operation, further inflating its illicit earnings.

Fitzek told the BBC in 2022 that he held no violent intentions, though he denounced the German state as “destructive and sick.”

German intelligence estimates about 26,000 people belong to Reichsbürger networks, a spectrum of groups of which a small, radical segment is linked to right‑wing extremism.

In 2022 a separate plot involving dozens of Reichsbürger members was uncovered; they were charged with planning a violent coup, including the kidnapping of the health minister, to incite civil war.

Five individuals were sentenced last year for their roles in that attempted overthrow.

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