German woman fit to stand trial for murder of Turks
A psychiatrist serving as an expert witness in Germany's lengthy National Socialist Underground (NSU) trial testified to a German court yesterday that Beate Zschaepe, sole surviving member of the neo-Nazi gang, is mentally sane and can be held accountable for crimes including the racist murders of eight Turks.
The NSU murdered eight Turks, a Greek man and a German policewoman between 2000 and 2007 in a series of murders which was years later coincidentally discovered to be the work of a racially-motivated group. The group was also responsible for bank robberies and the bombing of a Turkish neighborhood in Germany, but of the gang members only Beate Zschaepe, a 42-year-old woman, remains alive. Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Boehnhardt, two other members, killed themselves in 2011 during a police pursuit after a foiled bank robbery.
Zschaepe kept her silence throughout her trial in Munich since 2013 and when she gave her first testimony last year denied involvement in the gang's crimes. She did admit that she did not tip off the authorities about the murders and robberies when she found out about them.
Psychiatry expert Henning Sass told the court Zschaepe did not suffer from any mental disorder and can be prosecuted. His assessment is based on only his outside observations as Zschaepe refused to speak with him. Sass also concluded that Zschaepe was not sincere in her statement to the court and her brief spoken defense in one of last year's hearings did not show regret or guilt.
The NSU murdered eight Turks, a Greek man and a German policewoman between 2000 and 2007 in a series of murders which was years later coincidentally discovered to be the work of a racially-motivated group. The group was also responsible for bank robberies and the bombing of a Turkish neighborhood in Germany, but of the gang members only Beate Zschaepe, a 42-year-old woman, remains alive. Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Boehnhardt, two other members, killed themselves in 2011 during a police pursuit after a foiled bank robbery.
Zschaepe kept her silence throughout her trial in Munich since 2013 and when she gave her first testimony last year denied involvement in the gang's crimes. She did admit that she did not tip off the authorities about the murders and robberies when she found out about them.
Psychiatry expert Henning Sass told the court Zschaepe did not suffer from any mental disorder and can be prosecuted. His assessment is based on only his outside observations as Zschaepe refused to speak with him. Sass also concluded that Zschaepe was not sincere in her statement to the court and her brief spoken defense in one of last year's hearings did not show regret or guilt.