German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said a case concerning a killing spree by neo-Nazi terrorist group the National Socialist Underground (NSU) in Germany has not been closed as far as she is concerned.
Merkel’s remarks came during a news conference in Berlin on Friday shortly after a German court handed down a life sentence to Beate Zschäpe, a member of the NSU and the main suspect in the trial.
Zschäpe was given the sentence on July 11 for the murder of 10 people including eight Turks between 2000 and 2007, two bombings and several counts of attempted murder and robbery.
“How could such horrible, such complicated, acts happen and not be detected in a timely fashion by the relevant authorities, and not be resolved for such a long time,” Merkel said.
“Without doubt, this is a very dark stain on the history of Germany. One cannot simply close this chapter,” she added.
The NSU killed eight Turkish immigrants, a Greek citizen and a German police officer between 2000 and 2007, but the murders had long remained unsolved.
Four other suspects in the trial were given lighter sentences by the German court, causing disappointment among the family members of the victims.
The families also harshly criticized Merkel for not keeping the promise she made four years ago to uncover all the facts about the NSU murders.