German woman gets life term for 10 neo-Nazi murders
Berlin, July 11 : The sole survivor of post-war Germany's deadliest neo-Nazi terror cell was on Wednesday sentenced to life in prison for the murder of 10 people in a seven-year campaign of shootings and nail bombings across Germany.
Beate Zschaepe, 43, of far-right group National Socialist Underground (NSU), was convicted after a five-year trial over the deaths of nine migrants between 2000 and 2006, and the killing of a woman police officer in 2007.
Eight of the victims were men of Turkish origin, one man was Greek. The verdict was handed down at a court in Munich, the Telegraph reported.
She was also found guilty of a series of nail bombings which targeted immigrant communities, including one in Cologne in 2004 in which 22 people were injured.
The court found that Zschaepe was a fully active member of the NSU, a secretive three-person terror cell whose existence was only discovered after the other two members and her former lovers, Uwe Boehnhardt and Uwe Mundlos, died in a suspected suicide pact in 2011.
They left behind a video confessing their crimes that led police to begin investigating the group in connection with the murders. The trio's white supremacist group NSU also carried out 15 bank robberies.
Lawyers for the woman earlier argued that she was not involved in the murders. Later, she admitted helping the two men but claimed she knew nothing of the killings.
The court rejected her claims and found she was fully complicit in the group's campaign of shootings and bombings. The killings had "Nazi racist motives" and were designed to spread "fear and insecurity" among immigrant communities, the judge found.
The trial was one of the longest in German history and one of the most scandalous as evidence emerged that police had failed to investigate right-wing motives in several of the murder cases.
Campaigners and lawyers for the victims' relatives accused German authorities of covering up the size and influence of the NSU, which operated in secret for almost 14 years. They claimed the group even had informants in the German security services.
Four others -- Ralf Wohlleben, Carsten S., Holger Gerlach and Andre Eminger were found guilty of lesser offences of aiding the terror cell.
The critics argued the trial had left unanswered questions over how much German intelligence knew about the NSU.
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Two FIRs lodged against Mithun Chakraborty for 'provocative' speech
Kolkata, Nov 6: Two FIRs have been lodged against actor-turned-politician Mithun Chakraborty for allegedly making provocative statements during a BJP event in Salt Lake area near Kolkata last month, police said on Wednesday.
The complaints pertain to Chakraborty's speech on October 27 at the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre (EZCC) in Salt Lake, during a BJP programme attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who was in Kolkata to launch the party's West Bengal membership drive.
The first FIR was filed at the Bidhannagar South police station based on a complaint by an individual, while the second was lodged at Bowbazar police station.
"We have started an investigation into the case," a senior officer of Bidhannagar police said.
Shah was also present at the programme, which was organised to kick off the West Bengal leg of the BJP's membership drive. Shah had also felicitated Chakraborty for being honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award this year.
Although Chakraborty was unavailable for comment, BJP state president and Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar described the FIRs a result of "vendetta politics.".
Majumdar alleged that the TMC government "has once again used the police to unfairly target well-known actor and senior BJP leader Mithun Chakraborty".
He accused the chief minister of employing such tactics "to serve political interests" and claimed that the state government's actions were part of an ongoing attempt to discredit political opponents.
"There is nothing provocative in his speech. These are nothing but attempts to intimidate him by using police as a political tool," he said.
TMC leader Kunal Ghosh dubbed the BJP's allegations as baseless.
"The allegations of political vendetta are baseless. He shouldn't have made such provocative remarks. The law will take its own course," he said.
Chakraborty, who received India's highest film honour, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, earlier this year, had asserted on October 27 that the 'masnad' (throne) of West Bengal would belong to the BJP after the 2026 assembly elections, promising to do whatever it takes to achieve the goal.
While speaking at the programme, Chakraborty, a BJP leader, said, "In 2026, the 'masnad' will be ours, and we will do everything to achieve the goal."
In an apparent reference to TMC MLA Humayun Kabir's communal remarks aimed at BJP workers during the Lok Sabha elections, Chakraborty had allegedly made provocative remarks.
Chakraborty cautioned that no one should attempt to intimidate saffron party voters into abstaining from voting in the next assembly elections.
He called upon the booth-level workers of his party to resist any such attempts.
