Ankara voices concern over German court’s ruling on far-right crimes

ANKARA

Turkey expressed concern on Dec. 16 over a decision of the German Federal Court of Appeal regarding the appeal of a ruling by the Munich High Court in 2018 on a National Socialist Underground (NSU) serial killings case.

“As a matter of fact, this decision reinforced the perception that racism and xenophobia did not receive the punishment they deserved and that the true dimensions of the NSU organization wanted to be left unclarified,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tanju Bilgiç in a statement.

“Although the judiciary is of course independent, this decision did not fully clarify the nature of the serial killings committed by a racist gang, did not ease the consciences of the victims’ families and it damaged the trust in the judiciary,” he said.

This decision showed that Germany should take the threat of racism, xenophobia and Islamophobia more seriously.

A Munich court in 2018 gave Andre E., a defendant in the NSU trial, a sentence of two-and-a-half years in prison for supporting the terrorist organization.

The German court on Dec. 15 reviewed the case at the request of the state prosecutor who had sought a sentence of 12 years and rejected the appeal.

The neo-Nazi group NSU killed 10 people, including eight Turkish migrants, between 2000 and 2007.