The NSU trial or National Socialist Underground trial was a trial in Germany against several people in connection with the National Socialist Underground (NSU) – an extreme-right terrorist organization – and the NSU murders. It took place between 6 May 2013 and 11 July 2018 in Munich before the Munich Higher Regional Court. The trial was notable for being one of the largest, longest and most expensive in German history and made public claims of institutionalized racism within the German police force who for years ruled out Neo-Nazis as potential suspects in the killings and instead focused on suspects with Turkish backgrounds," going so far as to name their investigation "Bosporus."
Accused were Beate Zschäpe and four suspected helpers and supporters: André Eminger, , Carsten Schultze and former NPD official Ralf Wohlleben. Zschäpe had to answer charges of being a principal in ten murders and a serious arson and of being a member of a terrorist organization. Eminger was accused of knowing about the murders and aiding and abetting a terror organisation. Gerlach was accused of being an accessory by providing false documents for the so-called NSU trio. Schultze was accused of being an accessory by transporting the weapon used in nine of the murders to the trio. Wohlleben was accused, inter alia, of being an accessory by procuring this weapon. Other charges were also brought.
Beate Zschäpe was found guilty of murder on 11 July 2018 and was sentenced to life imprisonment, which her lawyer said she would immediately appeal. Wohlleben was sentenced to ten years in prison, Eminger received two and a half years and Gerlach and Schulze both received three-year sentences.
Background
A series of murders that targeted small business owners, including doner kebab vendors and greengrocers with immigrant backgrounds took place in Germany between 2000 and 2007. These murders were referred to by the German authorities as the "Bosphorus serial murders" () and with the German yellow press using the derogatory term "Kebab Murders" (). Following the suicides of two Neo-Nazis, Beate Zschäpe turned herself in to the German police in Jena and was held in custody on suspicion of her involvement in the attacks. In 2012 she was formally charged.
, a lawyer of a victim family in the trial, faced massive threats. The threats were reportedly signed with "NSU 2.0", and included to kill her daughter. The first threatening fax was received by her in August 2018. During the trial five judges were presided by the leading judge and assisted by two associate judges. In the deliberation were included four state prosecutors and seventeen lawyers represented the defendants, while more than fifty lawyers represented the victims and co-plaintiffs. The trial counted 438 days of deliberations and 500 witnesses were heard. It raised a strong interest from the public society, some people arrived the night before the deliberation in order to have one of the hundred seats available in the room where the trial took place.
Proceedings
On Saturday, 4 May 2013, objections were submitted to the judges, to be considered before the start of the trial. The objections centered on defence as well as plaintiff counsel being searched before entering the courtroom, while federal prosecutors and members of the court were not. On the first day of the trial, 6 May 2013, the presiding judge, Judge Götzl, deferred the decision on the applications, adjourning the trial until 14 May 2013. These motions of bias were rejected four days later.
Mahmut Tanal, a member of the Turkish parliament representing the Republican People's Party (CHP) who attended the first day of the proceedings, complained that the presence of a crucifix in the courtroom violated the secular principles of the rule of law and was a threat to all non-Christians.
On 4 June, the fifth day of the trial, , the lawyer representing Zschäpe, sought a discontinuation of the trial in that the Attorney General's prosecutors, the Federal Criminal Police Office and other public figures and authorities had taken the accusations against her client as true before trial, thus breaching the constitution and making the trial untenable. The request was denied.