THREE defence lawyers for a German woman facing murder charges over an alleged neo-Nazi killing spree have asked a Munich court to relieve them of their duties.
The lawyers were appointed to defend Beate Zschaepe, who has been on trial since May 2012 for alleged involvement in 10 murders thought to have been carried out by terror group the National Socialist Underground.
The lawyers claimed they could no longer mount a defence “in terms of the interests of our client”, saying: “Our appointments to the defence are just a facade and transparently serve merely the maintenance of the appearance of a proper defence.”
The extraordinary motion comes a day before Zschaepe was due to testify for the first time about her role in the group in a comprehensive statement. Two other core members of the group died in an apparent murder-suicide in 2011.
Zschaepe’s fourth lawyer, Mathias Grasel, said he will read a statement from his client on Wednesday, after her other lawyers counselled her not to testify.
The high-profile case stunned Germany during the seven-year killing spree that involved the death of nine men and one woman of mainly Greek and Turkish origin.
Zschaepe is also facing armed robbery and arson charges as the sole survivor of the organisation
At the time she was charged in 2012, federal prosecutor Harald Range alleged the group carried out “execution style” murders to spread fear and convince people to leave the country.
“The NSU members saw themselves as a unified commando of killers which zealously carried out its murderous attacks with racist and subversive motives,” he said at the time.
The high-profile trial has also exposed numerous failings in the authorities’ handling of their decade-long investigation into the murder spree.
Germany’s intelligence agency says it has now created a single list of sources among extremist groups in response to demands from politicians who wanted to know why it failed to crack down on the terror group.
In 2011, revelations that agencies had sources close to the group but failed to stop it caused a national outcry.
Domestic intelligence chief Hans-Georg Maassen said on Monday his agency would gain “a comprehensive insight into the countrywide access to all areas of extremism.”
Politicians also plan to establish an inquiry to examine the role of intelligence in the case.
It’s not yet clear if Zschaepe’s testimony will be read out in person or by her lawyer, as is common in Germany trials.
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