Neonazi murder trial opens to protests

(Morning Star) The highest-profile neonazi murder trial in Germany in decades opened today, 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 at the start of a trial scheduled to last for more than a year.

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

Ms 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.

Four male defendants are facing accusations of assisting the self-styled National Socialist Underground in a series of murders.

Photo: Ismail Yozgat , right, and Ayse Yozgat , left, attend a memorial event on the anniversary of the murder of their son Halit, who was killed by the neonazi NSU terror group, in Kassel, Germany. (AP)