The only surviving member of a German neo-Nazi cell behind a shocking series of racist murders was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison, capping one of the longest and politically charged trials of the post-war period.
For four years, a Nazi terror suspect on trial for ten murders and two bomb attacks has held her silence. But Beate Zschäpe has suddenly decided to speak out for the first time.
UPDATE: A German court hearing a landmark murder and terrorism trial on Monday rejected a request by three defence lawyers to quit representing the surviving member of a neo-Nazi cell.
Beate Zschäpe, the only living member of the National Socialist Underground (NSU) terror cell, spoke before the court in Munich on Wednesday for the first time in her years-long trial.
The National Socialist Underground trial in Munich hangs in the balance after the main defendant, Beate Zschäpe, indicated she wanted to dismiss her entire legal team.
The mother of neo-Nazi terrorist Uwe Böhnardt accused police on Tuesday of setting up her now deceased son by planting weapons in her flat while he was living there in the late 1990s.
Accused NSU terrorist Beate Zschäpe has refused to speak in court, but she has sent a 26-page handwritten letter to a radical right fellow prisoner that could complicate her defence.
Germany's top court on Friday upheld a complaint by a Turkish newspaper over media access to a neo-Nazi trial in a controversy that had strained ties with Ankara.
The government must get involved in the current controversy over which newspapers are allowed to attend a neo-Nazi trial in Munich later this month, Social Democratic Party chief Sigmar Gabriel said on Sunday.
The mother of accused neo-Nazi terrorist Beate Zschäpe defended her daughter, criticized the police and the legal system and questioned whether a fair trial in Germany is possible, <i> Focus</i> magazine reported on Sunday.
A year after the neo-Nazi terrorist cell believed to be responsible for nine racial murders and the killing of a police woman was revealed, a leading German official admitted trust in the authorities was seriously damaged.
German investigators have asked for US help in their investigation of the neo-Nazi terror group based in Zwickau, the magazine <i>Focus</i> reported Sunday.
German prosecutors have said that they feel they have grounds for a prosecution against Beate Zschäpe in relation to their investigation into the NSU neo-Nazi terror cell.
There may be links between the far-right terror cell and a series of crimes in the western state of Saarland, including a bomb attack on a controversial exhibition and arson attacks on foreigners.
