A woman who led a self-proclaimed autonomous state inside Austria will spend the next decade behind bars after a court found her guilty of attempting to incite an insurrection against the government.
Monika Unger, 44, the self-declared president of the so-called ‘Confederation’, was convicted of sedition and incitement to high treason in the southern city of Graz.
Her parallel state attracted more than 2,600 people after its founding in 2015 and drew anti-government activists from across the political spectrum. The ‘Confederation’ was reportedly able to levy tens of thousands of euros based on its own tax system, and even issued diplomatic passports to some members and sold license plates. Unger purportedly saw herself as a “victim of a system of oppression” and sought to create her own government
She reportedly attempted to marshall the Austrian army as part of a plot to overthrow the government in Vienna, and wrote a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin in the hope that he would send military assistance.
The anti-government radical was arrested during an April 2017 operation carried out by 450 law enforcement personnel.
She was sentenced to 14 years in prison for inciting high treason in 2019, but the ruling was overturned after she appealed, triggering a new trial.
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