German legislators say police work on neo-Nazi murders so flawed as to border on sabotage

The murders committed between 2000 and 2007 by the German neo-Nazi cell calling itself the National Socialist Underground (NSU) reportedly could have been prevented if the relevant authorities had not committed many serious errors. That is the conclusion of a report by an investigative committee of the Thuringian state legislature into the issue.  

Attempts by German counter-intelligence and police to apprehend the trio of terrorists are said to have been "one big disaster." Cell members Uwe Bonhardt, Uwe Mundlos and Beate Zschäpe of the Thuringian town of Jena are said to have committed 10 murders in various locations around the country, with the vast majority of their victims being of Turkish origin.

Two bomb attacks in immigrant neighborhoods of Cologne in the years 2001 and 2004 that resulted in 23 people injured as well as 15 bank robberies are attributed to the trio. Police did not succeed in discovering the NSU members until 2011.

According to the report released yesterday, which is almost 1 900 pages long, it is even possible, based on the unbelievable number of errors committed by police, that the investigation of these various crimes was intentionally sabotaged. The report says that if detectives had done their work correctly back in 1998 when they discovered an NSU workshop for the production of explosives, they could have prevented the subsequent violence.  

The men in the cell committed suicide in 2011 after police found them, so authorities have only managed to arrest Zschäpe. She and four other alleged supporters of the NSU have been on trial in Munich since May 2013 and the proceedings are expected to take until the end of this year at least; if convicted, she could face life in prison.