No exclusion of the international media from the NSU trial

On 17 April, the trial of Beate Z. (38), Ralf W. (38), Carsten S. (33), André E. (33) and Holger G. (38) will begin in the 6th Criminal Senate at Munich Higher Regional Court (OLG). The charges include formation of a terrorist organisation, the National Socialist Underground (NSU). The trial is quite rightly attracting considerable public and media interest. Unsurprisingly, this applies especially to the Turkish public and Turkish media, which have a particular interest in the opening of the trial as eight of the ten victims are of Turkish origin.

We believe that the great interest in the trial could and should have been predicted by Munich Higher Regional Court. Unfortunately, its response so far has been inadequate. What matters now is to avoid creating or reinforcing the impression that the broad international public, media and migrants are being excluded from the proceedings.

It would therefore be welcome if the Court were to utilise its full scope to facilitate the broad presence of the international media – including, first and foremost, representatives of the Turkish and Greek press – thereby serving the interests of information and transparency to the greatest possible extent.

The watchword for this trial too should be this: the public and media interest in these unprecedented proceedings should not be tailored to fit the available space, but vice versa – appropriate facilities must be provided in order to do justice to the great interest in the trial.

We are convinced that it is possible, in Germany, to stage legal proceedings in a manner which takes account of security interests, the principles of justice, and the interests of a democratic international public.

Signatories:

1. Sevim Dagdelen, MdB

2. Memet Kılıç, MdB

3. Aydan Özoğuz, MdB

4. Rainer Arnold, MdB

5. Herbert Behrens, MdB

6. Karin Binder, MdB

7. Matthias W. Birkwald, MdB

8. Heidrun Bluhm, MdB

9. Martina Bunge, MdB

10. Martin Burkert, MdB

11. Viola von Cramon, MdB

12. Dr. Diether Dehm, MdB

13. Elke Ferner, MdB

14. Wolfgang Gehrcke, MdB

15. Nicole Gohlke, MdB

16. Christel Humme, MdB

17. Ulla Jelpke, MdB

18. Dr. Lukrezia Jochimsen, MdB

19. Josip Juratovic, MdB

20. Johannes Kahrs, MdB

21. Susanne Kieckbusch, MdB

22. Lars Klingbeil, MdB

23. Harald Koch, MdB

24. Dr. Bärbel Kofler, MdB

25. Jutta Krellmann, MdB

26. Gabriele Lösekrug-Möller, MdB

27. Kirsten Lühmann, MdB

28. Caren Marks, MdB

29. Niema Movassat, MdB

30. Bettina Hagedorn, MdB

31. Heike Hänsel, MdB

32. Dr. Rosemarie Hein, MdB

33. Dr. Hermann E. Ott, MdB

34. Heinz Paula, MdB

35. Dr. Sascha Raabe, MdB

36. Mechthild Rawert, MdB

37. Stefan Rebmann, MdB

38. René Röspel, MdB

39. Paul Schäfer, MdB

40. Dr. Gerhard Schick, MdB

41. Werner Schieder, MdB

42. Ulla Schmidt, MdB

43. Ilja Seifert, MdB

44. Kathrin Senger -Schäfer, MdB

45. Sonja Steffen, MdB

46. Sabine Stüber, MdB

47. Frank Tempel, MdB

48. Alexander Ulrich, MdB

49. Kathrin Vogler, MdB

50. Sahra Wagenknecht, MdB

51. Arfst Wagner, MdB

52. Katrin Werner, MdB

53. Jörn Wunderlich, MdB

54. Uta Zapf, MdB

55. Manfred Zöllmer, MdB