Zschäpe Seeks Release from Custody — Hearing in Munich

Beate Zschäpe, the convicted right-wing terrorist, is seeking early release from prison—and has now appeared before the Munich Higher Regional Court (OLG) for a hearing on the matter. An oral hearing took place on Thursday in a closed session, a spokesperson for the OLG told the German Press Agency. This is intended to help the court prepare a decision on the minimum length of time Zschäpe must remain in custody. The “Münchner Merkur” and “tz” had previously reported on this.

Zschäpe was sentenced to life in prison by the Munich Higher Regional Court in 2018 as an accomplice in the so-called NSU murder spree. The Higher Regional Court also determined that her guilt was particularly severe. This virtually rules out early release after 15 years. However, according to the court, this period is set to expire in November—because Zschäpe was taken into pretrial detention in November 2011. Therefore, the court must soon rule on the so-called minimum term of imprisonment.

Zschäpe is serving her sentence in Chemnitz

Zschäpe is incarcerated at the Chemnitz Correctional Facility in Saxony, so she had to be transported to Munich specifically for the court hearing. Last year, she was admitted to a program for former neo-Nazis.

The “National Socialist Underground” (NSU) was a terrorist cell consisting of Zschäpe, Uwe Mundlos, and Uwe Böhnhardt, which, undetected from 2000 onward, committed ten murders throughout Germany, five of them in Bavaria. Their victims were nine business owners of Turkish and Greek descent, as well as a German policewoman. Mundlos and Böhnhardt also carried out two bomb attacks in Cologne that left dozens injured. The two killed themselves in 2011 to avoid arrest—only then was the NSU exposed. Zschäpe, the trio’s sole survivor, was convicted as an accomplice, even though to this day there is no evidence that she was ever present at a crime scene.