German court sentences neo-Nazi to life in prison

Beate Zschäpe, the main defendant in the trial of members of the National Socialist Underground, a neo-Nazi group, will spend the rest of her life in a German prison according to a sentence handed down against her today by the High Court in the state of Munich, who found her guilty of 10 murders. Deutsche-Presse Agentur reported that her co-defendant Ralf Wohlleben, who supplied the group with weapons, was given a 10-year sentence.

Other co-defendants were also sentenced to prison time. Defendants Holger G. and Carsten s. received three years in prison, while André E. received two years and six months.

Carsten S. was convicted of abetting murder in nine of the cases. Because he was a minor at the time the crimes were committed, he was sentenced according to juvenile criminal law.

That defendant confessed to having given the NSU a Czech-made pistol. The terrorists used it to shoot dead nine people.

Defendant Holger G. was convicted of supporting the terrorist organization. He confessed to having given a weapon to the NSU trio and to having aided them with acquiring fake identification.

André E. was also convicted of supporting a terrorist organization. Allegedly he aided the three NSU terrorists hiding illegally.

Zschäpe, as a member of the NSU, contributed to the racially motivated attacks and murders committed by her late friends from the NSU, Uwe Böhnhardt and Uwe Mundlos. In 1998 the trio created the terrorist cell, which was motivated by racial hatred to murder nine people of either Greek or Turkish origin throughout Germany as well as a German policewoman.