NSU-Convicted Zschäpe Applies for Early Release – Munich Higher Regional Court Hears Case
Beate Zschäpe was heard before the Munich Higher Regional Court on Thursday. The court must now decide on the minimum sentence to be served of her life sentence.
Zschäpe in Court: Munich Higher Regional Court Decides on Minimum Sentence
Beate Zschäpe (51), who was convicted of a life sentence for the NSU murder series, has filed an application for early release from prison. According to BILD, a non-public oral hearing took place on Thursday before the Munich Higher Regional Court (OLG) – in preparation for a decision on the so-called minimum sentence to be served.
An OLG spokesperson confirmed to the German Press Agency that the hearing was being held in preparation for a court decision. Previously, "Münchner Merkur" and "tz" had reported on the date.
According to her solicitor Mathias Grasel, the hearing lasted approximately one and a half hours. Grasel demanded that his client serve a total sentence of no more than 20 years.
The Munich Higher Regional Court had convicted Zschäpe in 2018 as an accessory to the NSU murder series and simultaneously established the particular gravity of her guilt – which makes release after the regular 15-year period almost impossible. According to the court, this period expires in November, as Zschäpe entered pre-trial detention in November 2011. The court must therefore decide shortly on the minimum sentence to be served.
Zschäpe is serving her sentence at Chemnitz correctional facility in Saxony and was brought specially to Munich for the hearing. Last year, she succeeded in gaining admission to a neo-Nazi exit programme.
The "National Socialist Underground" (NSU) was a terrorist cell comprising Zschäpe, Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Böhnhardt. From 2000 onwards, they carried out ten murders undetected across Germany, five of them in Bavaria. Nine victims were business owners of Turkish and Greek origin; one was a German police officer. The two men also committed two bomb attacks in Cologne causing dozens of injuries.
Both men killed themselves in 2011 to avoid arrest – it was only then that the NSU was exposed. Zschäpe, the sole survivor of the trio, was convicted as an accessory even though to this day there is no evidence that she herself was present at any of the crime scenes.
Source: BILD