Zschäpe just wants to save her skin
What happened on the 313th day of trial in the National Socialist Underground (NSU) case? The main defendant before the Higher Regional Court in Munich presented four or five sentences - quietly and quickly spoken. It is a surprise but not a sensation. It would have been a sensation if Beate Zschäpe had helped solve the unprecedented racist murder series. But she didn't. With a few words, Zschäpe merely repeated what one of her defense lawyers had already read in her name in December 2015.
Back then it was a sensation because the accomplice of alleged NSU assassins Uwe Böhnhardt and Uwe Mundlos had broken her silence two-and-a-half years into the trial. The tenor of Zschäpe's speech today is the same as it was in the past: She admits that she was once a right-wing extremist but not anymore. The brief statement ended with a reference to previous things she had said. She has made other statements during the year as she had her lawyers respond to questions asked by the presiding judge.
Only one motive comes into question with regard to the surprising personal request to speak: Beate Zschäpe, facing murder charges, is hoping for leniency in the verdict expected to be passed in the upcoming year. But actually, to achieve that, she should have offered more and earlier on. Instead, she simply did the opposite for a long time. She had apparently been following the advice of her three public defenders with whom she had a falling out during the course of the trial.
The late change of heart is unconvincing
The fact that the two new lawyers who joined the defense team later on are pursuing another strategy may not help Zschäpe's case but instead, even damage it. She claims that she only found out about all the crimes after they had been committed and was shocked about them. This statement, soaked in self-pity, does not fit in with the deliberate self-confidence and aloof past appearances of the main accused in the NSU trial.
Even desperate pleas made by the victims' families to break her silence did not move Zschäpe. In the end, it is doesn't matter why she showed a hint of human emotion on the 313th trial day. It also doesn't matter whether she had discussed this with her defense team. It is too late for many things. The taking of evidence will soon be concluded. That is also why Zschäpe's address comes across as a purely tactical maneuver. It probably won't help her much.
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