Federal Prosecutor Takes Over the Grid-Sabotage Case as Constitutional Sabotage Under Section 88, No Foreign Direction Alleged
Karlsruhe, 10 September 2026
Key points
- At 18:02 on 10 September the federal prosecutor general announced it had taken over the investigations from the Dresden prosecutor general's office and the Cottbus and Cologne prosecutors: suspicion of attempted and completed constitutional sabotage under section 88(1) no. 3 of the criminal code and attempted and completed disruption of public utilities under section 316b(1) no. 2
- The accused, 48, arrested on 8 September, is alleged to have placed fireworks rockets or similar objects fitted with fuses, timers and wires beneath high-voltage lines near substations in Brandenburg, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony, set to fire at preset times; on 1 September short circuits at Turnow-Preilack and Bergheim-Rheidt forced emergency shutdowns, two lignite plants at Bergheim-Rheidt were switched off and supply in an adjacent locality was temporarily impaired
- The grounds are the case's special significance: acts across state borders, presumably aimed at large-scale outages and suited to weaken public confidence in the protection of critical infrastructure; the Federal Criminal Police Office leads; the release names no foreign direction and no motive
- Herbert Reul told the Landtag's interior committee that a notebook in the man's motorhome lists more than 160 past and possible targets and that more than 40 launchers have been found in North Rhine-Westphalia alone (dpa); he remains in custody on the Cottbus court's warrant pending the Federal Court of Justice's investigating judge
The federal prosecutor general took over Germany's grid-sabotage investigation on 10 September, ten days after the first short circuits, on the constitutional-sabotage provision that covers a person acting alone and without alleging that anyone directed him.
The release sets out the case as Karlsruhe now holds it. Devices built from consumer fireworks rockets, fitted with fuses, timers and wires, were placed under high-voltage lines near substations in three states and set to fire at preset times to short-circuit the lines. At Turnow-Preilack in Brandenburg and Bergheim-Rheidt in North Rhine-Westphalia they did so on 1 September, forcing temporary emergency shutdowns; at Bergheim-Rheidt two lignite plants had to be taken off, and supply in a neighbouring locality was temporarily impaired, a detail Amprion's account of the day, in which no customer lost supply, had not carried. The accused was arrested on 8 September near the Weisweiler plant and is held on the Cottbus district court's warrant, to be brought before the Federal Court of Justice's investigating judge for the warrant to be adapted.
The takeover rests on section 120 of the courts constitution act, special significance: the acts crossed state borders, presumably aimed at large-scale outages, and were suited to weaken the population's confidence in the protection of critical infrastructure. Reul's account to the Landtag committee, carried by dpa, adds a notebook with more than 160 targets, seven further storage sites the man named to the custody judge, three of them already found, and more than 40 launchers recovered in North Rhine-Westphalia, "all fairly professionally built". Those figures are police reporting, not the prosecutor's text.
Karlsruhe chose the provision that fits a lone actor, not the one that would require a foreign principal. Section 88 turns on intent to act against the security of the Federal Republic and its text covers a person acting alone; no agent offence under sections 87 or 99 is cited, and the motive is left blank. Großwald wrote on 4 September that a federal takeover on state-direction grounds would reopen the question of who directed the man; this takeover answers it provisionally the other way, by naming a ground that needs no director. Charges can be added at indictment, and that is the test: an indictment citing only sections 88 and 316b closes the foreign-direction reading, one adding an agent offence reopens it. Signal No. 143 carries the takeover on day ten, with the police figures kept apart from the prosecutor's.
Related · Germany's grid sabotage series
- Two Grid-Sabotage Attacks in Twelve Hours Hit Turnow-Preilack and Bergheim, Tripping Five Lignite Blocks
- Grid Sabotage: Signed Letters Name a Gevelsberg Physician, SEK Finds His Lorry Empty, Saxony Defuses Twelve Devices
- Cologne Police Arrest Gevelsberg Suspect at Weisweiler With Explosives, Reul Points to a Lone Perpetrator
