(LifeSiteNews) — Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has joined an international chorus demanding the release of German attorney Reiner Fuellmich.

Fuellmich, a lawyer known for organizing “grand jury” proceedings on the COVID-19 response, was extradited from Mexico to Germany and jailed for fraud in March 2025, when a German court convicted him of embezzling funds. Fuellmich is currently awaiting an appeal.

But his supporters claim that these charges were politically motivated. Viganò described his detention as a sign of a “totalitarian regime” tightening its grip across the West.

His case has drawn statements of support from lawyers, doctors, and activists worldwide, many of whom appeared in a recently released video.

“A dangerous, subversive elite has managed to infiltrate the highest levels of Western institutions and governments to implement the criminal plan of the Agenda 2030,” Viganò declared in his remarks. “It’s not attorney Fuellmich who should be in prison, but those who committed the greatest crime ever against humanity.”

He specifically named Anthony Fauci, Bill Gates, Klaus Schwab, George Soros, Ursula von der Leyen, and Albert Bourla among those responsible.

A dangerous subversive elite has managed to infiltrate the highest levels of Western institutions and governments to implement the criminal plan of the Agenda 2030.

In many self-proclaimed “democratic” states, the voices denouncing this global coup are being silenced through… pic.twitter.com/PDMCDUZcrE

— Arcivescovo Carlo Maria Viganò (@CarloMVigano) September 17, 2025

Other contributors to the video echoed Viganò’s concern that Fuellmich’s case represents a broader assault on dissent. Andrew Bridgen, former MP with the British Conservative Party, called Fuellmich “a political prisoner” and dismissed the accusations as “trumped up fraud charges which have basically collapsed.”

Bridgen, who was expelled from the Tories in 2023 over COVID-related issues, said “his continued incarceration is an affront to freedom in Europe and Germany.”

Dr. Bryan Ardis, CEO of Naturewins, called Fuellmich a “hero” and pointed viewers to “the depositions and the collection of attorneys he alone assembled” as part of the “grand jury” proceedings.

Supporters explained that Fuellmich had previously been involved in high-profile legal cases in Germany, including the 2015 Volkswagen emissions scandal and proceedings against Deutsche Bank.

Fuellmich rose to prominence after the emergence of COVID-19 by assembling international testimony challenging the safety of vaccines, the legality of lockdowns, and the reliability of PCR testing. In 2021, he went further, alleging that the COVID-19 vaccines were “a form of bioterrorism” which “appears to have been many years in the making.”

In 2022, he co-hosted an exposé on “concerning” structures found in the Pfizer COVID jab fluid, claiming that “this stuff doesn’t belong in there.” “You cannot consent to something you don’t know anything about,” he added.

Fuellmich’s “Corona Committee” interviews had become a hub for critics of government policies, and he later helped convene hearings styled as a “Nuremberg 2.0.” Supporters say his imprisonment was designed to halt that work.

Viganò’s intervention carries weight among Catholics skeptical of global institutions. The former Vatican diplomat has consistently warned of what he sees as collusion between Western governments and private organizations such as the United Nations, NATO, the World Health Organization, and the World Economic Forum. He argued these entities have suppressed opposition through “censorship, intimidation, psychiatrization, and even arrest.”

“His crime is having dared to speak the truth in a world of criminal lies,” Viganò said, echoing the portrayal of Fuellmich as simply one instance in a pattern of persecution.

Fuellmich remains imprisoned in Germany while awaiting appeal. His supporters insist that his conviction will not withstand scrutiny and that international pressure is essential to securing his release.