MUNICH
An intelligence officer from Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has testified at a trial involving the far-right National Socialist Underground - which is alleged to have killed 10 people.
Between 2000 and 2007, the neo-Nazi cell, known as the NSU, is alleged to have carried out the murders of eight small-business owners of Turkish origin, a Greek immigrant and a German policewoman, without arousing the suspicion of the police or intelligence.
Giving testimony during the 142nd trial in the Munich State Supreme Court, right-wing extremist Tino Brandt said that, although he worked as a spy for the intelligence services, he never changed sides, and said he felt close to the extreme-rightist element.
The German public learned about the group and its role in the murders in late November 2011, when two members of the organization reportedly died in a murder-suicide following an unsuccessful bank robbery.
Files destroyed
Until 2011, the police and the domestic intelligence services had excluded any racial motivation in murders targeting immigrants -- but rather suspected immigrant families, mafia groups and drug trafficking.
The third alleged member of the group, Beate Zchaepe, is currently the main suspect and under arrest.
But she has refused to give testimony, and her lawyers say she will remain silent during the trial.
Many questions related to the NSU’s murders have yet to be resolved, as dozens of secret files of the domestic intelligence services were destroyed in late 2011.
A high-profile trial into the NSU - which started in May 2013 and broke for the summer this month - failed to shed any light on the NSU murders.
www.aa.com.tr/en
