After a five-year trial, a member of a neo-Nazi gang has been found guilty of 10 racially-motivated murders.<\/p>\n
Beate Zsch\u00e4pe was the main defendant on trial over the murder of eight ethnic Turks, a Greek citizen and a policewoman between 2000 and 2007.<\/p>\n
The verdict carries an automatic life sentence.<\/p>\n
The connection between the murders was only discovered by chance in 2011, after a botched robbery led to the neo-Nazi group’s discovery.<\/p>\n
Zsch\u00e4pe shared a flat in the eastern town of Zwickau with two men, who died in an apparent suicide pact. The bodies of Uwe Mundlos and Uwe B\u00f6hnhardt were found in a burnt-out caravan used in the robbery.<\/p>\n
Zsch\u00e4pe, Mundlos and B\u00f6hnhardt had formed a cell called the National Socialist Underground (NSU). An explosion at their home – apparently in an attempt to destroy evidence – led to Zsch\u00e4pe turning herself in.<\/p>\n
The NSU’s seven-year campaign exposed serious shortcomings in the German state’s monitoring of neo-Nazis, and led to a public inquiry into how German police failed to discover the murder plot.<\/p>\n
Four other defendants were also given jail terms for their role in helping the NSU gang:<\/p>\n
Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"