Jewish group warns of neo-Nazi parties in Europe

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The World Jewish Congress said Tuesday it is greatly concerned about the emergence of neo-Nazi parties such as the Golden Dawn in Greece, Jobbik in Hungary, and Germany's National Democratic Party.

A study presented at the WJC assembly in Budapest, the Hungarian capital, highlighted the links regarding the strengthening of such extremist groups, the European economic crisis and latent Nazi-type tendencies.

"Although neo-Nazi style movements and ideologies are present in other parts of the world, it is unsurprising that an ideology that was born in Europe should be most likely to show a resurgence in Europe inside the party political system," the study said.

Among its recommendations, the study said mainstream parties should quarantine neo-Nazi groups by refusing to appear with them at public events or meeting with them in private.

The "economic crisis, which has nurtured the neo-Nazi cause, may endure or worsen," the document said. "We must be prepared for all eventualities."

In a resolution adopted by the World Jewish Congress at the end of its three-day meeting, the group led by U.S. businessman Ronald Lauder urged countries whose constitutions allow it to urgently consider banning neo-Nazi parties or organizations "posing a threat to the safety and well-being" of minorities.

One concern of the group is Golden Dawn, Greece's third most popular party. The party, which was once marginal, is fond of Nazi literature and symbols but rejects the neo-Nazi label. Hungary's Jobbik is the second-largest opposition group in parliament, having won 16.7 percent of the vote in 2010. Germany's far-right National Democratic Party has deputies in two of Germany's 16 regional assemblies but no representation at the federal level.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's speech at the start of the WJC meeting on Sunday was criticized by the Jewish organization for failing to specifically mention the threat posed by Jobbik.

On Tuesday, however, Lauder said he was told about a recent interview Orban gave to the Yedioth Ahronoth Israeli newspaper in which the prime minister called Jobbik "an increasing danger" to Hungarian democracy.

"This was a strong statement about Jobbik," Lauder said, apologizing for not knowing sooner about the interview published last week. "I would like that to be put in the record that the prime minister really did take a stand against Jobbik and I appreciate that."

View the original article here

German neo-Nazi trial opens in Munich

MUNICH (AP) — The highest-profile neo-Nazi murder trial in Germany in decades opened Monday amid tight security and intense media interest, with the five accused appearing in public for the first time since their arrest more than a year ago.

Police erected security barriers in anticipation of possible protests by far-right extremist groups, while hundreds of reporters queued outside the Munich courthouse in the hope of gaining one of the few available seats in the packed courtroom for the start of a trial scheduled to last for more than a year.

The main defendant is Beate Zschaepe, 38, accused by prosecutor of complicity in the murder of eight Turks, a Greek and a policewoman between 2000 and 2007. If convicted she faces life imprisonment.

Zschaepe is also accused of involvement in at least two bombings and 15 bank robberies carried out by her accomplices Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Boenhardt, who died in an apparent murder-suicide in November 2011. In a break with standard practice the court allowed Zschaepe's face to be filmed as she entered the court in a dark suit, her arms folded, before turning her back to the cameras.

Four male defendants are accused of assisting the self-styled National Socialist Underground in various ways:

— Ralf Wohlleben, 38, and Carsten Schultze, 33, are accused of being accessories to murder in the killing of the nine men. Prosecutors allege that they supplied the trio with the weapons and silencers used in the killings.

— Andre Eminger, 33, is accused of being an accessory in two of the bank robberies and in the 2004 nail bombing in Cologne's old town that injured 22 people, four of them seriously. He is also accused of two counts of supporting a terrorist organization.

— Holger Gerlach, 39, is accused of three counts of supporting a terrorist organization.

Like Zschaepe, the co-defendants were known to German authorities before the existence of the self-styled National Socialist Underground came to light. Many in Germany have asked how the country's well-funded security services, with their network of informants in the far-right scene, could have overlooked the group's existence for so long. For years, police suspected the immigrant victims of being involved with foreign gangs linked to gambling and drugs.

Families of those killed and survivors of the bomb attacks in particular have said they are hoping not just for justice, but answers to questions such as how the group chose its victims, none of whom were high-profile targets.

One of Zschaepe's three lawyers has claimed that his client faces "execution by media."

Wolfgang Stahl told public broadcaster SWR last week that Zschaepe was being portrayed as "evil incarnate, a murderer, a member of a murder gang, a Nazi bride or a Nazi killer" in a way that could prejudice the trial judges.

Her lawyers have said she will remain silent during the lengthy trial. Under German law Zschaepe won't have to make a plea until the end, though her lawyers have said they will contest the prosecution charges.

___

Frank Jordans contributed from Berlin. He can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/wirereporter

View the original article here

German neo-Nazi trial begins in Munich

MUNICH (AP) — The trial of five Germans alleged to have been part of a neo-Nazi terror campaign against immigrants begins Monday in Munich.

The main defendant is 38-year-old Beate Zschaepe. Prosecutors accuse her of complicity in the murder of eight Turks, a Greek and a policewoman between 2000 and 2007. Her lawyer has contested the charges.

Zschaepe is also accused of involvement in at least two bombings and 15 bank robberies carried out by her accomplices Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Boenhardt. Both men died in an apparent murder-suicide in November 2011.

Four male defendants are accused of assisting the self-styled National Socialist Underground in various ways.

The trial has raised questions about German authorities' inability to prevent the crimes and the apparent readiness with which police initially dismissed a far-right motive.

View the original article here

Germany riveted at start of neo-Nazi murder trial

By Alexandra Hudson

MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) - The surviving member of a neo-Nazi cell blamed for a series of racist murders that scandalized Germany and shamed its authorities goes on trial on Monday in one of the most anticipated court cases in recent German history.

The chance discovery of the gang, the National Socialist Underground (NSU), which had gone undetected for more than a decade, has forced Germany to acknowledge it has a more militant and dangerous neo-Nazi fringe than previously thought, and exposed staggering intelligence failings.

The trial in Munich will focus on 38-year-old Beate Zschaepe, who is charged with complicity in the murder of eight Turks, a Greek and a policewoman between 2000-2007, as well as two bombings in immigrant areas of Cologne, and 15 bank robberies.

"With its historical, social and political dimensions the NSU trial is one of the most significant of post-war German history," lawyers for the family of the first victim, flower seller Enver Simsek, said in a statement.

The case has profoundly shaken a country that believed it had learned the lessons of its past, and has reopened an uncomfortable debate about whether Germany must do more to tackle the far-right and lingering racist attitudes.

Four others charged with assisting the NSU will sit with Zschaepe on the bench.

DOUBLE SUICIDE

The existence of the gang only came to light in November 2011 when the two men believed to have founded the NSU with Zschaepe, Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Boehnhardt, committed suicide after a botched bank robbery and set their caravan ablaze in the eastern town of Eisenach.

In the charred vehicle, police found the gun used to murder all 10 victims. They also found a grotesque DVD presenting the NSU and claiming responsibility for the killings. In it the bodies of the murder victims are pictured while a cartoon Pink Panther tots up the number of dead.

After her companions' suicides, Zschaepe is believed to have set fire to a flat she shared with the men in Zwickau, 180 km (110 miles) away, and gone on the run. Four days later she turned herself in to police in her hometown of Jena, saying "I'm the one you are looking for."

For the victims' families the trial will be the first chance to come face to face with Zschaepe, a woman whose troubling, blank expression and resolute silence since her arrest has left people struggling to make sense of her motives.

The trial offers a chance for the woman dubbed "Nazi bride" in the media to break her silence, but few think she will.

Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in 2011, wrote to Zschaepe in May 2012, addressing her as "Dear Sister" and urging her to use the trial to spread far-right ideology, according to German media.

Hearings are scheduled into early 2014, and witnesses due to appear include Zschaepe's estranged relatives and the parents of Mundlos and Boehnhardt.

FAMILIES' GRIEF

Prosecutors say the gang chose people running small businesses or shops as easy, vulnerable targets, in an attempt to terrify migrants and hound them out of Germany.

Some of the relatives even came under suspicion themselves because police simply did not consider a far-right motive.

"All the relatives have the huge problem that they were never treated as victims. During the investigations they were either considered suspects, or as relatives of criminals," said lawyer Angelika Lex.

The start of the trial comes as a relief to families, after it was postponed by a fortnight due to the court's poor handling of media access. It initially did not guarantee any Turkish media a courtroom seat, despite the number of Turkish victims.

This prompted a successful complaint by a Turkish newspaper and the Munich court was ordered to redistribute seats, which it did via a lottery.

While judges try Zschaepe and the NSU's suspected accomplices, Germany's lower house of parliament is conducting its own inquiry into the institutional failings.

Germany's patchwork of intelligence agencies are set to undergo reforms, after the inquiry found they failed to share information and neglected the far-right threat. The head of domestic intelligence resigned last July.

The trio had been known to authorities during their teenage years in Jena, for their racist hate crimes and bomb making, but had managed to escape arrest and assume new identities.

(Additional reporting by Reuters television in Munich; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

View the original article here