Wdr on nsu terror in koln: authorities ignored profiler tips

According to the report, experts from the state and federal criminal offices – so-called profilers – had already pointed to a xenophobic motive shortly after the attack in june 2004, which injured 22 people. Experts from the federal office for the protection of the constitution had also pointed out parallels to an explosive attack in london, which had been carried out by right-wing extremists.

However, according to WDR, the koln police and the NRW ministry of the interior decided "not to pursue these leads vigorously and to systematically conceal from the public any knowledge of a xenophobic background". The ministry of the interior had instructed the state criminal investigation department within hours of the bloody deed not to classify the case as a "terrorist attack" any further. Instead, the investigators assumed organized crime had taken place. The police refuted the accusations.

The NSU terrorist trio, to whom ten murders are also attributed, is held responsible for the attack in front of a turkish frisor salon in koln’s keupstrabe. A police spokeswoman stressed: "we naturally followed up all leads at the time, including right-wing terrorist leads."The investigative approaches in this case were not sufficient to lead to success. The police had investigated with "great intensity and seriousness".

Former north rhine-westphalia interior minister fritz behrens (SPD) apologized on thursday to the NSU investigation committee of the bundestag for "fatal misjudgments", but did not admit to any concrete personal failings. Clemens binninger, the union’s chairman on the committee, criticized the fact that neither behrens nor then-prime minister peer steinbruck – now the SPD’s candidate for chancellor – had spoken out publicly about the attack. The WDR program was to be broadcast on sunday at 1930.

The suspected NSU terrorist beate zschape wants to remain silent in court, according to her lawyers. They agreed with zschape that she would not make any statements about the case, her defenders told the "suddeutsche zeitung" (saturday).

"We didn’t have to persuade mrs. Zschape to do it," emphasized her kolner lawyer wolfgang heer. It is not clear, however, whether this announcement will be valid for the entire duration of the trial. "In a main trial, many developments are possible that cannot be predicted. At present, ms. Zschape will remain silent," said her berlin lawyer, anja sturm. Zschape had refused to testify in the investigation, which has been ongoing for the past twelve months.

The 37-year-old must answer for her role as a member of the national socialist underground (NSU) organization and as an accomplice. In earlier interviews, zschape’s lawyers had already denied that zschape had been involved in the NSU murder series as an accomplice. In addition to zschape, four alleged supporters and helpers of the so-called zwickau cell are also charged, including former NPD functionary ralf wohlleben. The trial is to take place in munich, according to the federal prosecutor’s office, but the date is still open.

The defenders accused federal prosecutor general harald range of "prejudging" them because he had talked about a leniency program early on and rejected it. Behind the debate about the leniency rule was the assumption that zschape would be convicted on all charges. However, according to the words of the lawyers, this was not to be assumed.

RELATED POSTS

Seehofer relaxes border controls The controls at the german border, introduced because of the corona pandemic, are to be gradually relaxed from this saturday onwards. However, the people…

Police pictures should continue to be stored at amazon Federal data protection commissioner ulrich kelber says it is illegal for federal police to store images of their operations on servers run by u.S….

Microsoft gets into trouble again with eu commission The company is not keeping its promises from 2009 and is not offering its windows users a free choice between different internet browsers, said EU…

Sollenberg huffs and puffs With the symbolic ground-breaking ceremony at the site where the central village square will later be built, grafenberg’s mayor werner wolf () gave the…