One year anniversary of the NSU trial – Zschäpe has fallen ill

Today’s trial was interrupted several times, no concrete evidence was taken. After about 20 minutes of witness testimony, the Zschäpe defence asked for an interruption, which was soon followed by further interruptions. In the early afternoon, it was revealed that in the morning, Zschäpe had received a document which had caused her “nausea.” She refused to tell the examining physician the nature of that document.

It seems plausible that the document in question is a notice that the court is planning to confiscate three letters sent by Zschäpe to Neonazi Robin Schmiemann, detained at another prison. These letters are to be used for a linguistic expert opinion, requested by victims’ counsel, on whether there are similiarities between NSU publications and Zschäpe’s writing. It would presumably be tough on Zschäpe if her rather emotional letters to her “comrade” were made subject to public discussions.

The trial day ended with a challenge for bias brought by the Zschäpe defence against the court physician. The court will decide on that challenge outside of the courtroom.