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Neo-Nazi trial

May 18, 2013

The trial of Beate Zschäpe and four men charged with helping a neo-Nazi terror cell carry out 10 race-related murders reconvenes today after a week-long adjournment. DW is following the events.

Defence lawyers Anja Sturm (L) Wolfgang Stahl and Wolfgang Heer (R) sit at their desk before proceedings are resumed in the trial of Beate Zschaepe and four others involving neo-Nazi racist murders, in Munich May 14, 2013. The trial against a previously unknown neo-Nazi cell, the National Socialist Underground (NSU), which is accused of murdering nine Turkish and Greek immigrants and a policewoman from 2000 to 2007, resumed on Tuesday. The focus of the trial is 38-year-old woman, Beate Zschaepe, who is accused of being an NSU founder member and faces charges of complicity in the murders, two bombings in Cologne and 15 bank robberies. Four suspected male accomplices are also on trial. The existence of the NSU emerged in November 2011 after Uwe Boehnhardt and Uwe Mundlos of the NSU were found dead in a burnt-out mobile home and the third Zschaepe, gave herself in to police. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach (GERMANY - Tags: CRIME LAW)
Image: Reuters/Kai Pfaffenbach

It is the biggest trial on far-right extremism in Germany since World War II, centering on Beate Zschäpe and the National Socialist Underground (NSU) neo-Nazi group she allegedly co-founded. Authorities hold the group responsible for the murders of eight Turkish men, a Greek man and a policewoman. Aside from Zschäpe, another four defendants stand accused of having supported the right-wing terror cell.

The trial opened on Monday but was adjourned later in the day for a week after defense lawyers questioned the impartiality of the judges. Zschäpe's lawyers lodged the application after defense lawyers were searched for guns when entering the court while prosecutors were not.

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