A German woman has been sentenced to life in jail after being found guilty of murdering 10 people in a series of neo-Nazi attacks.

Beate Zschaepe, 43, the only surviving member of far-right group the National Socialist Underground (NSU), was convicted after a six-year trial over the deaths of 10 people, mostly migrants, between 2000 and 2007.

Eight of the victims were men of Turkish origin, one man was Greek and the other was a German policewoman.

Zschaepe was arrested in 2011, shortly after the deaths of her accomplices and former lovers, Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Boehnhardt, in an apparent murder-suicide.

The trio had formed white supremacist group, the NSU, which carried out 10 shootings and two bomb attacks, targeting migrants, mostly of Turkish origin.

Police and prosecutors failed to spot an anti-migrant link to the group's crimes, instead concentrating on victims' non-existent gangland connections.

Campaigners and lawyers for the victims' relatives have accused German authorities of covering up the size and influence of the NSU, which operated in secret for almost 14 years.

They have claimed the group even had informants in the German security services.

In Germany, those handed a life sentence typically serve 15 years behind bars as prisoners are often released for good conduct.

However, Zschaepe will not be eligible for parole as Judge Manfred Goetzl imposed the maximum sentence due to the "exceptional severity of the crime".

Ralf Wohlleben, a former member of the far-right NPD party accused of helping the NSU, was found guilty of complicity in nine counts of murder and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Andre Eminger, an unrepentent neo-Nazi, was acquitted of complicity but sentenced to two and a half years for backing a terrorist organisation, a verdict that was greeted with applause by supporters in the courtroom in Munich. </s> A Munich court has found the main defendant in a high-profile neo-Nazi trial guilty of murder over the killing of 10 people — most of them migrants.

The victims were gunned down between 2000 and 2007 in a case that shocked Germany.

Judges have sentenced Beate Zschaepe to life in prison.

The 43-year-old was arrested in 2011, shortly after her two accomplices were found dead in an apparent murder-suicide.

Together with the men, Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Boehnhardt, she had formed the National Socialist Underground, which pursued an ideology of white racial supremacy by targeting migrants, mostly of Turkish origin.

Authorities for years failed to attribute the killings and two bomb attacks to a far-right group, instead investigating non-existent gangland links. </s> A German court on Wednesday sentenced neo-Nazi gang member Beate Zschäpe to life in prison for the murder of 10 people, mostly with an immigrant background.

Zschäpe is the sole surviving member of the National Socialist Underground (NSU), a small far-right terror cell found responsible for the murder of nine immigrant men (eight Turkish and one Greek) and a German policewoman, in a killing spree carried out over seven years from 2000.

The group also set off two bombs in Cologne in 2000 and in 2004, with the second bombing injuring more than 20 people.

German police discovered the NSU almost by chance in 2011, after they had operated undetected for more than a decade, financing themselves with bank robberies. While some German law enforcement agencies had been on their trail, none had joined the dots and the cell was only discovered after Zschäpe’s two partners killed themselves following a failed robbery.

The events led to harsh criticism of Germany’s decentralized security structure, blamed for failing to detect the gang’s activities sooner.

Zschäpe, who is now 43, was put on trial in 2013 for complicity in all 10 murders, the Cologne bombings, 15 bank raids, arson and attempted murder, as well as for being part of a terrorist organization. In an apology issued in 2015, she assumed responsbility for the arson attacks but denied involvement in the murders. However, in her apology she said that she felt “morally responsible” for her actions, as well as for failing to stop her partners’ suicides.

“What the perpetrators have done is irreparable. The victims will never be forgotten,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Twitter, adding that the fight against racist violence and intolerance requires not only the rule of law but also the “diversity of our open societies.”

Zschäpe’s lawyer Mathias Grasel said he would seek to appeal the verdict, arguing that Zschäpe could not be condemned for the complicity in the killings committed by her two partners, and calling the ruling “legally untenable.” The verdict, delivered by Munich’s Higher Regional Court, must now be reviewed by a federal court.

Read this next: Will Trump make NATO obsolete? </s> BERLIN (AP) - Lawyers for the main defendant in a high-profile neo-Nazi murder trial in Germany have begun their closing arguments - five years after proceedings opened.

Beate Zschaepe, the only known survivor of the far-right National Socialist Underground group, is accused of taking part in 10 killings, two bomb attacks and several bank robberies.

The 43-year-old's lawyers told the Munich regional court Tuesday that their client didn't have an equal role in the killings committed by two deceased members of the group.

In this Tuesday, March 13, 2018 photo terror suspect Beate Zschaepe, center, arrives in a court room between her lawyers Hermann Borchert, left, and Mathias Grasel, right, in Munich, Germany. The lawyers for the main defendant in a high-profile neo-Nazi murder trial have begun their closing arguments, five years after proceedings opened. Beate Zschaepe, the only known survivor of the far-right National Socialist Underground group, is accused of taking part 10 killings, two bomb attacks and several bank robberies. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, Pool)

Prosecutors want life imprisonment for Zschaepe and lesser sentences for four defendants accused of helping the group. They, and lawyers representing some of the victims, finished their closing arguments in February.

The trial, which was drawn out by regular delaying motions by the defendants, is expected to conclude within weeks.

In this Tuesday, March 13, 2018 photo terror suspect Beate Zschaepe, center, sits in a court room between her lawyers Hermann Borchert, left, and Mathias Grasel, right, in Munich, Germany. The lawyers for the main defendant in a high-profile neo-Nazi murder trial have begun their closing arguments, five years after proceedings opened. Beate Zschaepe, the only known survivor of the far-right National Socialist Underground group, is accused of taking part 10 killings, two bomb attacks and several bank robberies. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, Pool) </s> One of Germany's most high-profile neo-Nazi trials came to an end Wednesday when so-called "Nazi bride" Beate Zschaepe was found guilty of 10 counts of murder, NBC News reported.

She is the last surviving member of a neo-Nazi gang, the National Socialist Underground, that carried out a series of killings and bombings between 2000 and 2007.

The gang killed eight men of Turkish origin, a Greek migrant and a female German police officer.

Zschaepe spoke only twice during the five-year case, but did deny taking part in killings while also apologizing to the victims' families. </s> Beate Zschäpe, member of the neo-Nazi terrorist group the National Socialist Underground (NSU), was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday for the murder of ten people between 2000 and 2007, two bombings, and several counts of attempted murder and robbery. She was also found guilty of the membership and foundation of a terrorist organization.

The 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.

Her accomplice Ralf Wohlleben, who was found to have supplied the group the gun with which all the murders were carried out, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Two other accomplices, Holger G. and Carsten S., were sentenced to three years in prison each for supporting a terrorist organization and accessory to nine murders, while a third man, Andre E., was sentenced to two years and six months for supporting the group.

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 featuring the testimonies of several hundred witnesses. Nine of the NSU's victims were of immigrant background, while the tenth was a police officer.

Almost as soon as the verdict was released, a number of community organizations, opposition political parties, and lawyers released statements saying the verdict should not be seen as a 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.

The socialist Left party said that the verdict had failed to shed light on the NSU network. "There is a lot of evidence that the NSU consisted of more than three neo-Nazis," the party tweeted.

Heiko Maas, Germany's former justice minister and now foreign minister, tweeted, "We will not only confront racist violence with the power of the law. We need the diversity of our open societies against intolerance. What the perpetrators did cannot be atoned for. The victims will not be forgotten." He added a hashtag meaning "no conclusion."

The proceedings took place amid suspicion about the failures of German security forces to capture the NSU while it was active. Several lawyers representing the families' victims have accused Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the Bundesverfassungsschutz (BfV), of destroying files and protecting informants in the neo-Nazi scene. These failings sparked several parliamentary inquiries at both federal and state level.

Many observers have also accused the police who originally investigated the murders of institutional racism for ruling out neo-Nazi motives. For several years, detectives worked on the assumption that the killings were related to Turkish organized crime.

Ahead of the verdict, Sofuoglu said that the Turkish community's trust in the security forces was "deeply shaken." He accused state prosecutors of sticking rigidly to the theory that the three members of the NSU had worked in isolation.

The NSU was only discovered on November 4, 2011, after the bodies of its two other members, Uwe Böhnhardt and Uwe Mundlos, were found in a burned-out motorhome following a failed bank robbery in Eisenach, having committed suicide. Zschäpe turned herself in to police four days later, but not before setting fire to the trio's shared apartment in Zwickau, destroying evidence. She was also found guilty of arson on Wednesday.

Prosecutors had demanded a life sentence for Zschäpe and prison terms of three to 12 years for the four people accused of helping the group. Her own attorneys had called for her release, arguing that she had not been an accessory to the crimes, had not committed any of the killings herself, and had only found out about them afterwards. </s> Beate Zschäpe, member of the neo-Nazi terrorist group the National Socialist Underground (NSU), was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday for the murder of ten people between 2000 and 2007, as well as her part in two bombings, and several robberies and attempted murders. She was also found guilty of membership in and the foundation of a terrorist organization.

The 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.

Ralf Wohlleben, who was found to have provided the gun with which nine of the murders were carried out, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Two other accomplices, Holger G. and Carsten S., were sentenced to three years in prison each for helping a terrorist organization and nine counts of accessory to murder, while a third man, Andre E., was sentenced to two years and six months for helping the group. Andre E. was released, having already served his prison time during the trial.

Reporting from inside the packed court in Munich, where some people had queued overnight to get in, DW correspondent Hans Pfeifer said many neo-Nazis had made it into the courtroom and cheered loudly when Andre E. was released. Outside, DW correspondent Isil Nergiz said many people observed a minute's silence for the NSU's victims before the verdict was read.

Zschäpe was smiling as she entered the courtroom just after 9:40 a.m., and "tried to look unmoved" as she faced the cameras. He added that the defendant sat "almost motionless" as the judge read the reasoning behind the court's verdict.

The judge said the three members of the NSU had resolved to carry out "ideologically-motivated attacks" and kill foreign citizens, and had planned the murders together. He added that Zschäpe had played a "special role" in creating a "harmless legend" for the outside world, while the two male members of the group, Uwe Böhnhardt and Uwe Mundlos, now dead, had carried out the attacks.

The judge emphasized that the NSU's attacks could only have succeeded if all three members had planned them together, rejecting Zschäpe's defense that she had not committed any of the killings herself and had only found out about them afterwards.

Zschäpe's attorney Wolfgang Heer said afterwards that his client would lodge an appeal, calling the conviction "legally flawed." "The court reasoning is extremely thin," he said. "The court is very clearly flouting the unambiguous rulings of the Federal Court of Justice on complicity."

Read more: Opinion: NSU trial underlines German state failures

Questions unanswered

The Munich state court ruling marks the end of one of the most important trials in Germany's postwar history. It was also one of the most complex, covering five years — more than 430 trial days — and featuring the testimonies of around 600 witnesses. Nine of the NSU's victims were of immigrant background; the tenth was a police officer.

Almost as soon as the verdict was released, a number of community organizations, political parties and lawyers released statements saying the verdict should not be the conclusion of the NSU case and calling for more investigations into Germany's neo-Nazi terrorist network.

Watch video 04:54 German court hands down life sentence in neo-Nazi murder trial

Chancellor Angela Merkel promised in 2012 that there would be a "gapless" investigation into what has since become known as the "NSU complex," and there have been 13 separate parliamentary inquiries at both federal and state levels, but they have been hampered by official obstacles, as domestic intelligence agencies destroyed files and protected paid informants in the neo-Nazi scene.

"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.

"The people who are dead are dead because of the neo-Nazis' hate and racism," Mehmet Daimagüler, an attorney who represented two of the victims' relatives in the trial, told DW last week. "But they're also dead because of a racist investigation. They're dead because the state, in the form of the intelligence agencies, helped to develop this movement, supported it financially, gave it legal protection. Without thinking of the consequences."

The socialist Left party said the verdict had failed to shed light on the NSU network. Left party MP Petra Pau blamed Merkel for allowing herself to be "driven into lying" after her 2012 promises "by interior ministers, federal and state authorities, and especially the domestic intelligence agencies." "And I have to say she let it happen," said Pau. "I have not heard anything else from her since then and not seen any efforts at all at breaking through the investigation blockade set up by the authorities."

But Merkel's own Christian Democratic Union (CDU) praised the efforts of both the judge and state prosecutors and defended the government's investigations into the case.

"The trial was only part of the efforts towards a thorough investigation that Angela Merkel announced in 2012," said Armin Schuster, CDU representative in the Bundestag's domestic policy committee. "Questions remain open after the verdict that are especially important for the victims and their relatives: Why were these specific people killed or injured by explosives? Who chose them to be victims of murder and bombings? Who may have helped Böhnhardt and Mundlos at the crime scenes?"

Barbara John, government ombudswoman for the relatives of the NSU victims, also defended Merkel. "Even the chancellor is not powerful enough to look into what the public servants are doing all day long," she told DW. "And when we look at what was happening there, you will see that change has to come out of these groups themselves. It is their obligation now to see why this could happen and why they could not prevent it."

Read more:The NSU crime scenes

Trusting the authorities

The trial took place amid persistent suspicion about the failures of German security forces to capture the NSU while it was active, despite evidence that its existence was well-known in neo-Nazi circles. Observers have also accused the police who originally investigated the murders of institutional racism for ruling out neo-Nazi motives at an early stage.

For several years, detectives went down blind alleys as they worked on the assumption that the killings were related to Turkish organized crime. Police were also criticized for labeling the killings as "kebab murders" at the time.

Abdulkerim Simsek, whose father Enver was shot dead by the NSU in 2000, told DW on Tuesday: "First my mother was accused, then my uncle, then everyone around us was constantly under investigation. That went on for eleven years. My father wasn't treated like he was the victim; instead he got the blame. It was the whole of the media. Whether it was the so-called 'kebab murders' of Turkish people or drug offenses. The press always said my father was to blame. And that's how we felt."

Ahead of the verdict, Sofuoglu said that the Turkish community's trust in the security forces was "deeply shaken." He accused state prosecutors of sticking rigidly to the theory that the three members of the NSU had worked in isolation.

The NSU was only discovered on November 4, 2011, after the bodies of Böhnhardt and Mundlos were found in a burned-out motorhome following a failed bank robbery in Eisenach, in an apparent murder-suicide pact. Zschäpe turned herself in to police four days later, but not before setting fire to the trio's shared apartment in Zwickau, destroying evidence. She was also found guilty on Wednesday of arson.

Prosecutors had demanded a life sentence for Zschäpe and prison terms of three to 12 years for the four people accused of helping the group. Her own attorneys had called for her release, arguing that she had not been an accessory to the crimes and pointing out that there was no evidence she was present at any of the murders. </s> MUNICH: The only surviving member of a German neo-Nazi cell behind a string of racist murders was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison, capping a mammoth trial that began in May 2013.

Beate Zschaepe, 43, was found guilty of 10 counts of murder in deadly shootings of nine Turkish and Greek-born immigrants as well as a German policewoman carried out by a trio known as the National Socialist Underground (NSU).

Although life imprisonment in Germany typically means 15 years behind bars as prisoners are often released for good conduct, Zschaepe would not be eligible for parole as judge Manfred Goetzl imposed the maximum sentence due to the "exceptional severity of the crime".

Police say the NSU's two male members - Zschaepe's former lovers Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Boehnhardt - carried out their killing spree from 2000 to 2007, before they died in an apparent suicide pact following a bungled bank heist in 2011.

Meanwhile Ralf Wohlleben, a former member of the far-right NPD party and accused of having provided help to the NSU, was found guilty of complicity in nine counts of murder. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Unrepentant neo-Nazi Andre Eminger was however found not guilty of complicity but sentenced to two and a half years for backing a terrorist organisation, a verdict that was greeted with applause by supporters in the courtroom. </s> Defense lawyers asked a court in Munich on Thursday to give Beate Zschäpe a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for her involvement in the National Socialist Underground (NSU) terrorist cell.

State attorneys had demanded a life sentence for Zschäpe, who they say helped mastermind and carry out a string of murders and bomb attacks between 2000 and 2007.

Read more: What is Germany's NSU terror trial?

The facts of the case:
• Zschäpe is the only surviving member of the NSU, which also included Uwe Böhnhardt and Uwe Mundlos. Both men committed suicide after authorities identified the group in 2011.
• The NSU allegedly murdered nine people with immigrant backgrounds and a police officer. They have also been accused of committing two bomb attacks and a series of bank robberies.
• Zschäpe has been charged with joint complicity in 10 counts of murder, arson, multiple robberies, extortion, the formation of a terrorist organization and membership in a terrorist organization.
• Federal prosecutors have said Zschäpe should serve a maximum life-in-prison sentence.
• But her lawyer, Mathias Grasel, said on Thursday that she was guilty of arson, extortion, aiding multiple robberies, and conspiracy to commit robberies, but that there was no evidence for her the other charges. Her sentence, they said, should not exceed 10 years in prison.

"These crimes [the murders] were committed solely by Uwe Böhnhardt and Uwe Mundlos," adding: "my client cannot be made responsible for the acts of the two men as the only survivor [of the group]."

"The legal system must be able to deal with crimes for which the actual perpetrators can no longer be held accountable."

Who is Beate Zschäpe? Zschäpe is a 43-year-old from Jena in eastern Germany, where she, Böhnhardt and Mundlos had been active in the right-wing extremist scene. She has been in pretrial detention since 2011.

Mammoth trial: The trial against Zschäpe started in 2013 in Munich's Higher Regional Court.

What happens next? The court is set in the next few weeks to hear pleas from Zschäpe's previous lawyers, who she had thrown out, and four people accused of helping the NSU. A final ruling is expected sometime after June.
In Germany, the accused members and supporters of the Neo-Nazi terrorist group National Socialist Underground are found guilty of the murders of nine immigrants and one policewoman, assistance in said murders, bomb attacks, attempted murders, and robbery. The main defendant and last surviving member of the terrorist group, Beate Zschäpe, is sentenced to life imprisonment.