German neo-Nazi found guilty of 10 murders

A German woman has been found guilty of involvement in 10 neo-Nazi murders, bringing to a close one of the longest running trials in the country's history.

Beate Zschaepe was convicted of a litany of crimes including murder, membership of a terrorist organisation, bomb attacks and robberies.

She showed no emotion as the verdict was read out.

Zschaepe, 43, was arrested in 2011, after two accomplices were found dead following an apparent murder suicide.

She was a member of a group known as the National Socialist Underground (NSU), an organisation that Germany’s attorney general described as a "right-wing extremist group whose purpose was to kill foreigners, and citizens of foreign origin".

Between 2000 and 2007 the group killed eight ethnic Turks, a Greek and a woman police officer.

It managed to evade capture for more than a decade thanks to a number of police mishaps and a network of supporters across Germany.

__________

Read more

Far-right Italian League party under pressure over racist shootings

Gunman in Italy migrant shooting had far-right links

Finsbury Park terror attack: Darren Osborne found guilty of murder and attempted murder  

__________

Prosecutors said they hoped the conviction would send a message to the security services, who for a number of years refused to acknowledge the possibility of far-right motivation behind the attacks.

Alexander Hoffman, one of the lawyers representing the victims, said the investigation "went in the wrong direction, not due to the failure of individuals but due to institutional racism".

Judge Manfred Goetzl told the court that Zschaepe was likely to serve at least 15 years.

Several right-wing supporters of Zschaepe cheered as a lesser sentence was handed down to one of her co-accused, Andre Eminger.

Zschaepe's defence sought to portray her as a naive, fringe member of the group. She acknowledged being "morally guilty", but asked to be spared conviction “for something that I neither wanted nor did”.

Despite her proclaimed regret, she repeatedly refused to answer questions from the lawyers of the victims' families over the course of the five-year trial.

The NSU has taken a cult role in popular German culture, serving as the inspiration for a number of books, an award-winning film and a Netflix series.

Last year, the far-right Alternative for Germany party won 94 seats in the country’s federal elections, marking the first time such a group had held seats in the Bundestag since the Second World War.

• Remittance charges will be tackled by blockchain

• UAE's monumental and risky Mars Mission to inspire future generations, says minister

• Could the UAE drive India's economy?

• News has a bright future and the UAE is at the heart of it

• Architecture is over - here's cybertecture

• The National announces Future of News journalism competition

• Round up: Experts share their visions of the world to come