Trial of suspected neo-Nazi delayed again

A MUNICH court has delayed the long-awaited trial of a suspected neo-Nazi charged over a string of immigrant murders, after being ordered by a higher court to guarantee seats to media from Turkey, where most victims came from.

The postponement yesterday of the trial of Beate Zschaepe, 38, which had been due to start tomorrow, is the latest mishap to dog a case that has horrified Germans and exposed bungled investigations, a failure to share information, and an entrenched disregard for the far-right threat.

The Munich court had allocated 50 seats in the small courtroom to media on a first-come-first-served basis, but none went to Turkish journalists.

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Turkish newspaper Sabah filed a lawsuit which the German Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe upheld, ruling that the Munich court must open up at least three more seats for foreign media.

Zschaepe is accused of being a founder member of neo-Nazi cell the National Socialist Underground and of complicity in the murder of eight Turks, a Greek, and a German policewoman, during a nearly decade-long killing spree.

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