Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Wednesday spoke out on a German court ruling concerning murders committed by neo-Nazi terrorist group the National Socialist Underground (NSU), calling on Berlin to reveal the role of officials from the intelligence service and other state institutions in the murder of 10 people including eight Turks, TRT Haber reported.
Beate Zschäpe, a member of the NSU, was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday for the murder of 10 people, nine from an immigrant background, between 2000 and 2007, two bombings and several counts of attempted murder and robbery.
Her accomplice Ralf Wohlleben, who was found to have supplied the gun with which all the murders were carried out, was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
“Punishment of the top suspect and other suspects is not enough. Who was behind these murders in the intelligence service, in the deep state? Which state institutions? They must be exposed and punished, too,” said Çavuşoğlu.
According to a Deutsche Welle report, Zschäpe was also found guilty of membership in and foundation of a terrorist organization. Judge Manfred Götzl also attributed Zschäpe with serious culpability, which means the 43-year-old is likely to serve more than the minimum of 15 years.
The Munich state court ruling marks the end of one of the most important trials in Germany’s post-war history. It was also one of the most complex, covering five years, more than 430 trial days and the testimonies of several hundred witnesses. Nine of the NSU’s victims were of an immigrant background, while the tenth was a police officer.
A number of community organizations, opposition political parties and lawyers released statements saying the verdict should not be seen as the conclusion of the NSU case and calling for more investigations into Germany’s neo-Nazi terrorist network.
“Angela Merkel and many others promised the victims a complete investigation. That promise was broken,” said Gökay Sofuoglu, chairman of the Turkish community organization TGD, in a statement, DW reported.