German 'king' jailed after court denied him immunity as 'head of state'

Peter Fitzek, pictured in 2016, was accused of assaulting a security guard. Photo: Hendrik Schmidt/dpa

The self-proclaimed «King of Germany» was sentenced to eight months in prison for the attack after a court repeatedly denied him «head of state» immunity.

Thursday 57 aged Peter Fitzek appeared in the district court in Wittenberg confident of victory, but could not convince the judge that as a «monarch» he should be protected from prosecution.

Fitzek entered a government building to get his driver's license stamped but was accused of assaulting a security guard who tried to prevent him from entering without a mask.

When two soldiers came to the guard's aid, he called them «fascist pigs» is a criminal offense in Germany.

“The defendant pushed me and kicked me in the leg. After that, I had pains and panic attacks, and I was on sick leave for several weeks, ”the guard told the court.

Because Fitzek was already on probation for another crime, he was not given probation, German newspaper Bild reported.

Peter Fitzek crowned himself «king» in an elaborate ceremony in 2012

Fitzek is a prominent member of the so-called Reichsbürger — that is, citizens of the empire — a growing movement of right-wing extremists who consider the current position of Germany illegitimate due to its defeat in the First World War.

Despite the fact that the East German son of an excavator was not a descendant of the aristocracy, he crowned himself in an elaborate ceremony in 2012.

He recently bought a 300-acre estate in Saxony for a listed price of 5.5 million euros. (£4.7 million), leading him to boast that «our kingdom is now two and a half times the size of the Vatican.»

Fitzek is funding the expansion of his «Kingdom of Germany» by recruiting devotees to invested his savings in his own currency, the Engelmarks, and also sold passports and driver's licenses for his «Reich».

Dozens of Reichsburgers, long considered an eccentric nuisance, were arrested last year as they prepared to commit coup d'etat to make Prince Reuss, a petty aristocrat, his Kaiser Heinrich XIII.

Another group, led by a former history teacher, planned to kidnap the German health minister.< /p>