An appeal by Ayse Yozgat

Today’s trial day began with a deeply touching appeal by the mother of murder victim Halit Yozgat, Ayse Yozgat:

“My appeal is directed to Ms. Zschäpe. You are also a lady. I speak to you as mother of Halit Yozgat. I ask you to clear up all that has happened. Since you are a woman I believe that women understand each other. For the last seven years, I can only ever sleep two hours per night. …

I ask for elucidation. Please free me from these feelings. I often feel very affected. I don’t want you to take on others’ sins. Please always think of me when you go to bed. Think of the fact that I cannot sleep. Thank you.”

The rest of the trial day consisted of several reports by federal police officers on the investigations which severely incriminated accused Beate Zschäpe.

According to these reports, the videos claiming responsibility for the NSU’s murders contained photos which were taken immediately after the murders of Enver Şimşek, Süleyman Taşköprü and Abdurrahim Özüdoğru, before police, EMTs or other persons arrived at the crime scenes. This shows that the pictures were taken by the killers and later entered into the videos which Zschäpe sent to various addresses.

In the debris of the burnt down flat in the Frühlingsstraße, police found part of a map of Nuremberg in which the crime scene in the Scharrerstraße was marked, as well as a slip of paper with the address of the crime scene in Kassel and of radio frequencies used by police in Northern Hesse, i.e. the area around Kassel. This shows that the NSU murderers had the technical means to eavesdrop on police radio.

One piece of evidence that should prove particularly incriminating for Zschäpe is a cell phone with SIM card found in the Frühlingsstraße. A few hours before the murder of Theodoros Boulgarides in Munich, this phone was used by someone in the immediate vicinity to make a phone call to a public phone box in Zwickau. The phone was not used for everyday calls. In other words, Zschäpe called a dedicated phone from a phone box in order not to leave any traces – behavior which clearly shows that she was directly involved in the murders. Finally, police found Zschäpe’s finger prints on newspaper articles from the “Cologne Express” of 11 June 2004 regarding the Keupstraße bombing attack and of the “Tageszeitung” from Munich of 30 August 2001 regarding the murder of Habil Kılıç.

Finally, the court heard testimony from the husband of the witness from Dortmund who had stated that in April of 2006, she had seen Zschäpe together with Mundlos and Böhnhardt on a lot neighboring her house. The witness could not explain why his wife had only disclosed her knowledge to a victim’s counsel this year. He did, however, remember that he was sure to have recognized all three persons. In the end, his wife had felt that observations and conjectures were not enough to contact the police or go public. “There was no objective evidence, no proof. I was afraid to make a fool of myself.” This assessment may be considered peculiar, but his testimony seemed very authentic. It is not likely, however, to influence the credibility of his wife’s testimony.