The most important criminal process of the post-war period against right-wing terrorism ended with applause and jubilation - of all right-wing extremists in the auditorium. At 10:01 am on Wednesday, Judge Götzl said: "The defendant André E. is guilty of supporting a terrorist organization, and otherwise he is acquitted." In the opinion of the court, therefore, he did not grant any support for the attempted murder. Applause from the auditorium.

André E. and his wife Susann did not respond. They acted like participants in a military parade. Yet they did not know what penalties the Munich Higher Regional Court will impose. Up to ten years imprisonment is possible for terrorists.

Shortly before 15 clock made Götzl for the couple the second important and most serious statement: "The warrant against André E. is repealed." The men and women in the gallery clenched their fists and held them up. What the neo-Nazi André E. tattooed on eight of his fingers before the start of this mammoth procedure begins again for him on this day: Freedom!

"I ask for silence!" Götzl shouted from below. "That's a mockery", a spectator cried desperately and looked to the many sergeants for help. André E. hugged his wife. Both wore black, as well as their co-thinkers in the spectator area. The color of mourning. Many of those involved believed that André E. would be sentenced to a high prison term.

His defense attorney Michael Kaiser had appealed to the entire court on one of the last days of the trial: "High Senate, think of your judicial oath, which states that you only have to submit to your knowledge and conscience," said Kaiser. "The most important core of our constitutional state is your independence!"

Two days after the verdict, the Berlin lawyer sits in the lobby of his hotel. "I suspect Götzl was overruled in the Senate." He knew only one method in which Götzl acquitted a defendant - "and then the prosecutor's office had demanded acquittal".

Ironically silent

André E. followed the advice of his lawyers and remained silent in the proceedings. Not a word about the allegations at the police interrogations, not a word in the trial. The verdict confirms that this "silence strategy" was the best for him, Kaiser said. "Maybe that's also a signal to Mrs. Zschäpe if she has decided on the right strategy." The main defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment for membership in a terrorist group, and the particular severity of the blame was found. After almost 250 process-days, Zschäpe had broken her silence without contributing to the clarification.

André E., simple and cheerful mind, the perseverance was easier. Brothers are silent - that's his motto and that of the scene. He is said to have made friends in prison with fellow prisoners and have fallen in the role of the hero. He enjoyed the provocation of waving to right-wing comrades in the stands, always in a good mood.

In front of the courthouse protesters chanted on the day of the verdict: "The NSU was not three!" André E., for the protesters the alleged fourth man of the terror cell, climbed for the last time in one of the transporters who bring the remand prisoners in the correctional center Stadelheim. There he packed his things, said goodbye to his cellmates and prison officers. Outside the prison, Susann E. waited, she had left the court at the back door.

Right-wing radicals from all over the world wrote to him

The many letters that have arrested him over the past ten months have also been in André Es's travel bag: Right-wing extremists from all over the world have written to him, wished him power, and paid him respect. For his attitude, for his silence, for his stamina. He should have proudly shown her around.

André E. likes to be celebrated as a martyr in the right-wing scene, as does the convicted NPD official Ralf Wohlleben, who was sentenced to ten years imprisonment in nine cases for aiding and abetting murder. Wohlleben is almost considered a saint, since he emphasized not only once in the process that he "remained faithful to his ideals and political convictions." André E. limited his anti-Semitic, racist messages to large-scale tattoos.

After the unmasking of the NSU André E. experienced a kind of roller coaster: The special unit GSG9 took him on the homestead of his twin brother Maik in Brandenburg, for six months he was in custody. He then marched 382 days as a free man in the Munich Higher Regional Court until the federal prosecutor's office requested twelve years in prison for assisting with the attempted murder. Even in the courtroom André E. was arrested again. And now the acquittal.

The Federal Prosecutor's Office accused E. aid to the attempted murder, because he is said to have rented the RV, drove with the Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Böhnhardt in December 2000 to Cologne and made a bomb attack in an Iranian business in the Probsteigasse. Mashia M., then 19, was seriously injured.

For the bereaved and the survivors of the explosives attacks, the mild sentence is "unbearable," say 22 lawyers of the co-plaintiffs. The judgment against André E., who "made no secret of his continuing National Socialist attitude", must be "understood as confirmation of his appearance".

Voice # 59 - NSU murders: Why do many questions remain open despite the verdict?

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Defender Kaiser is not a scene lawyer, he does not share the political attitude of his client. "The attitude, as long as it does not result in punishable acts, may be morally condemned," he says. "Legally, however, she can not be seized." So far not. "

The prosecution is still examining whether it appeals against the judgment. "No decision has yet been made," says spokeswoman Frauke Köhler. Edith Lunnebach, Mashia M's lawyer, can also appeal. "The family and I will decide that only on Tuesday," says Lunnebach.

André E., back with his wife and three sons, does not affect that. He knows that it will be a long time before he has to serve a possible remainder. The biggest hope of the family is now that the investigation against Susann E. is set. For the victims, that would be another slap in the face.

Also read:

  • Analysis of the NSU verdict: between applause and despair
  • After the guilty verdict: What's next with Beate Zschäpe?
  • Interview on Zschäpe-Haft: "That can make many years of life"