Tag: Beate Zschäpe

  • Trial of German Neo-Nazi Is Delayed Over Media Concerns – NYTimes.com

    Trial of German Neo-Nazi Is Delayed Over Media Concerns – NYTimes.com

    Trial of a Neo-Nazi in Germany Is Delayed Over Media Concerns

    By MELISSA EDDY

    BERLIN — After weeks of outrage in Germany and Turkey over how seats for members of the foreign news media were allocated at the trial of a prominent neo-Nazi, a state court in Munich said Monday that it would delay the opening of the trial by three weeks to allow for a new accreditation process.

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    Reuters

    Beate Zschäpe

    The decision — only two days before Beate Zschäpe, the sole survivor of a neo-Nazi cell that killed 10 people, was to go on trial — was met with a mixture of relief and anger. Representatives of the relatives of victims expressed frustration that the court had waited so long to find a solution to a problem that had drawn in government officials.

    Revelation of the cell’s existence in late 2011 shocked Germans and raised questions about how security authorities could have failed for the better part of a decade to stop the group from killing minorities. The cell’s members killed eight men of Turkish descent, a Greek and a German policewoman.

    Among the most dismayed at the trial’s delay were the victims’ relatives, many of whom had made travel arrangements and taken time off from work to attend the trial, said Barbara John, the ombudswoman appointed by the German government to represent their interests.

    Jens Rabe, a lawyer for Kerim and Semiya Simsek, whose father was the cell’s first victim in 2000, called the last-minute decision “more than annoying.”

    “The delay of the trial opening is the result of the court’s unyielding position and refusal to accept criticism or constructive suggestions for solutions,” Mr. Rabe said.

    Since it became clear last month that no Turkish journalists were among the 50 reporters — out of more than 100 who applied — to be guaranteed a seat in the courtroom, calls for their inclusion spread from the news media to politicians in Turkey and Germany.

    On Friday, Germany’s highest court ruled in favor of a Turkish journalist who had filed a petition to be allowed into the courtroom, citing what he called an unfair distribution of seats. The journalist, Ismail Erel, an editor at the Turkish newspaper Sabah, had argued to the constitutional court in Karlsruhe that the e-mail informing him about the accreditation arrived 19 minutes later than at several German newspapers, enough of a delay to jeopardize his chances for a guaranteed seat.

    Officials including Philipp Rösler, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s deputy, and Germany’s minister for immigrant affairs, had urged the court to show “sensitivity” in handling the Turkish media’s appeals to attend the trial.

    Margarete Nötzel, a spokeswoman for the Munich court, said in a statement that given the constitutional court’s ruling on Friday, “a new accreditation process will be necessary. ” She gave no details about how the process would be conducted.

    A version of this article appeared in print on April 16, 2013, on page A6 of the New York edition with the headline: Trial of a Neo-Nazi in Germany Is Delayed Over Media Concerns.

    via Trial of German Neo-Nazi Is Delayed Over Media Concerns – NYTimes.com.

  • Turkey to have representative at German neo-Nazi trial, envoy says

    Turkey to have representative at German neo-Nazi trial, envoy says

    Turkey will have an official representative in the court room for the upcoming trial of neo-Nazis accused of killing 10 people – eight of them Turks, the Turkish ambassador to Germany said.

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    But even before getting under way on April 17, the trial has come under intense criticism, after Turkish journalists failed to get reserved seats in the Munich court.

    The court has held firm to its decision that media seats will only be guaranteed to the 50 journalists, mainly Germans, who had applied by email on a first-come-first-served basis during a three-hour time slot.

    In an interview with dpa, Huseyin Avni Karslioglu, Turkey’s ambassador to Germany, said his country “fully trusts the German judiciary” but disapproved of the way it allocated seats.

    “The trial is also meant to restore people’s trust. They want to know what really happened … so with issues affecting the press, the court should show a bit more sensitive behaviour,” he said.

    Members of the self-styled right-wing National Socialist Underground (NSU) are to go on trial for the execution-style murders of 10 men with Turkish or Greek roots and a German police woman between 2000 and 2007, as well as bomb attacks and bank robberies.

    There is only one surviving member from the three alleged neo-Nazi killers. Two male gunmen, Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Boenhardt, died in an apparent murder-suicide in 2011 after they were cornered inside a camper van by police following a bank robbery.

    Their alleged female accomplice, Beate Zschaepe, 38, who lived with the two men for years, is being tried on murder and terrorism charges, along with four of their alleged supporters.

    Karslioglu said he would attend the start of the trial, with other Turkish officials later taking his place.

    “In Germany, a terrorist cell of neo-Nazis committed a gruesome series of murders, and the victims were almost all Turks,” said the diplomat. “As an ambassador, it is my duty to accompany the bereaved.”

    Turks are the largest ethnic minority group in the country, estimated to number about 3 million.

    For years police and some newspapers labelled the killings the “doner murders”, a reference to Turkish kebabs that suggested immigrant gang wars were behind the shootings.

    The case has badly shaken Germany’s security establishment, which has faced severe criticism for failing to exchange key information while keeping neo-Nazis as paid informants.

    Compounding the scandal, security services have admitted to shredding files on neo-Nazi groups, leading to the resignations of several senior security officials.

    Now many fear that the damage will be compounded when Germany starts what has been billed as the trial of the decade in a 1970s-era court room expected to be too small, given large media interest and the many witnesses and victims’ relatives.

    Source: GNA

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  • Turkey appeals for media seats at terror trial

    Turkey appeals for media seats at terror trial

    The Turkish foreign minister has appealed to his German counterpart to allow Turkish media into the trial of the last surviving member of a neo-Nazi terror cell accused of killing ten people, eight of whom were of Turkish origin.

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    The request was made during a telephone call and comes after the Munich Higher Regional court rejected a petition by the German government to reserve two seats in the courtroom for the Turkish ambassador, as well as the Human Rights ombudsman of the Turkish parliament.

    The court has awarded just fifty permanent courtroom seats to journalists. But Turkish media failed to secure a single one. The court claims it processed applications for accreditation as and when they came in, but politicians and the media have called the process bureaucratic and insensitive.

    German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle was keen to stress his commitment to transparency: “Given the unhappy back story to this case, assuring complete clarity and openness in the criminal process involving the awful crimes carried out by the NSU should be a matter of utmost concern.”

    Kemal Yurtnac, president of the Overseas Turks and Relative Societies (YTB) said he hoped those responsible would “soon acknowledge their mistakes.”

    The NSU terror cell is accused of ten murders. As well as the eight victims of Turkish origin, a Greek man and a German policewoman were also killed. The trial of the last surviving leader of the terrorist cell, Beate Zschäpe, begins on 17 April.

    DPA/The Local/kkf

    via Turkey appeals for media seats at terror trial – The Local.