Embargo on Turkish media in German NSU case

Avrupa Sabah newspaper will appeal Constitutional Court as it was not allowed to cover the trial of National Socialist Underground (NSU). Eight of the ten people who had been killed by NSU between 2000 and 2007 were Turks. Sabah newspaper authorized famous media lawyer Prof. Ralf Hocker to file a lawsuit in Constitutional court. The trial of NSU terrorist organization will begin on April 17 in Munich.

NSU is alleged to have murdered eight people with Turkish backgrounds, one with Greek roots and one German policewoman between 2000 and 2007, in addition to committing other crimes including a nail bomb attack in 2004 in a district of Cologne where many Turkish immigrants live, injuring 22 people.

Of the group's three members -- Uwe Bohnhardt, Uwe Mundlos and Beate Zschaepe -- only Zschaepe survives. She turned herself into police after Mundlos and Bohnhardt committed suicide following a botched bank robbery in November 2011. She has been charged with being an accessory to the murders and bomb attacks carried out by the NSU, as well as arson, founding a terrorist organization and facilitating robbery. Four alleged accomplices will also be tried.

On March 27, Anadolu Agency (AA) sent a letter to the Higher State Court of Munich in order to be added in accreditation list to follow the trial of NSU.

Anadolu Agency's Board Chairman & Director General Kemal Ozturk said in his letter that the trial of NSU terrorist organization was a priority for Turkish public opinion, and recalled that eight of the ten people who had been killed by NSU between 2000 and 2007 were Turks.

Ozturk noted that the trial of the last-surviving member of NSU Beate Zschaepe would be a top agenda item for Turkish media.