Daily Times

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.

Beate Zschaepe, 43, was found guilty of 10 counts of murder in deadly shootings of nine Turkish and Greek-born immigrants as well as of a German policewoman. The murders were carried out by a trio known as the National Socialist Underground (NSU).

Although life imprisonment in Germany typically means 15 years behind bars because prisoners are often released for good conduct, Zschaepe would not be eligible for parole as judge Manfred Goetzl imposed the maximum sentence due to the “exceptional severity of the crime”.

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas vowed to combat such neo-Nazi hate by upholding Germany’s commitment to tolerance and rejecting extremism.

“We not only stand up to racist violence with the strength of the law. Intolerance and hate must be met with the diversity of our open societies,” he wrote on Twitter, adding that “the victims remain unforgotten”.

Published in Daily Times, July 12^th 2018.