The written judgment of the Higher Regional Court of Munich has been finalized and sent to the court registry on 21 April, one day before the end of the time limit. Of course, the court is within its rights to use up almost the entirety of the available time limit, but its approach nonetheless leads to problematic consequences given that almost two years have passed since the oral judgment, and especially given the enormous political importance of the NSU trial and judgment. One cannot quite escape the feeling that the court, by waiting until the last minute to finalize its written judgment, is once again trying to show that the judgment against Zschäpe, Wohlleben, Gerlach, Schultze and Eminger is somehow normal and trivial and that the NSU complex has been dealt with in a final manner anyway.
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