Birgit Malsack-Winkemann
Birgit Malsack-Winkemann is a German far-right politician and former judge, and had a main role in the uncovered 2022 German coup d'état plot of "Patriotic Union" group. She was a member of the 19th Bundestag from [Results of the Results of the 2017 German federal election|2017 German federal election|2017] to 2021 for the Alternative for Germany, of which she has been a member since 2013. After losing re-election to the Bundestag in 2021, Winkemann returned to her previous position as a judge in the Berlin regional court.
On 7 December 2022, she was arrested during a large-scale raid against an alleged right-wing terrorist association with roots stemming from within the Reichsbürger movement.
Biography
Malsack-Winkemann was born on 12 August 1964 in Darmstadt and studied law at Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg. From 2003 to 2017 Malsack-Winkemann worked as a judge in the state of Berlin. In 2013 she joined the newly founded AfD and became a member of the Bundestag in 2017. In June 2021 she was nominated in 5th position on the AfD state candidate list for Bundestag, after she lost against Georg Pazderski - with the state party only winning 3 proportionally allocated seats, she lost re-election.She has been a member of the AfD's party Court of Arbitration since June 2022.
Malsack-Winkemann has two children.
December 2022 arrest
In the morning of 7 December 2022, she was arrested for her alleged involvement with a group of right-wing extremists connected to the Reichsbürger movement, which had planned a coup against the German government. She would have become the Minister of Justice of the government which would be formed if they had managed to realise their plan.At a trial that started on 21 May 2024, Malsack-Winkemann and eight other defendants were charged with terrorism and high treason.
The Public Prosecutor General accuses Malsack-Winkeman, among other things, of having infiltrated other defendants into the Bundestag and scouting out the buildings with them. Malsack-Winkemann is said to have belonged to the so-called Council of the "Patriotic Union". According to the GBA, the group planned an armed storming of the Bundestag in order to arrest members of parliament and bring about a system overthrow. She denies the allegations and describes her role as insignificant.