German Neo-Nazi Found Guilty of Killing 10, Mostly Migrants

A German neo-Nazi was found guilty Wednesday over the murders of 10 people, most of whom were migrants, that occurred between 2000 and 2007. The Associated Press reports that although Beate Zschaepe had not been physically present for the attacks, which were carried out by two of her accomplices who later died in an “apparent murder suicide,” the presiding judge found that she was nevertheless “essential for carrying out the robberies and attacks.” Zschaepe was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for “murder, membership of a terrorist organization, bomb attacks that injured dozens and several lesser crimes including a string of robberies,” the Associated Press adds. Four of her accomplices were sentenced from 2 1/2 to 10 years. In 1998, Zschaepe and her colleagues from the far-right National Socialist Underground became bent on harming Turkish migrants and killing “for anti-Semitic or other racist motivations,” prosecutors said. The Associated Press adds that the police failed to consider the killings as racially motivated at the time, rendering investigational efforts mostly unsuccessful and leading many to criticize the department for institutional racism. Some activists have also drawn parallels between Zschaepe’s attacks and the current violence towards migrant refugees, noting the recent emergence of another “far-right” group, the Alternative for Germany party.