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Carsten S. in the NSU trial (archive picture)
Photo: DPA
Carsten S., convicted of acquiring weapons for the NSU terrorist group, has to share the costs of the mammoth proceedings in Munich and the expenses incurred by the co-plaintiffs.
The highest criminal judge of the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) rejected his complaint against it, as they announced in Karlsruhe.
It is the first decision of the BGH on the NSU trial (
Az. StB 32/20
).
Unlike Beate Zschäpe and three co-defendants, S. withdrew his appeal against the judgment of the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Munich on July 11, 2018, before reaching the BGH.
He only appealed against the decision on costs and expenses.
Carsten S. has been free since mid-2020 after the rest of his three-year youth sentence was suspended.
In 2000 he confessed to having handed over the “Ceska” pistol to the “National Socialist Underground” (NSU) neo-Nazi terror cell, with which nine murders were later committed.
The OLG had convicted him of aiding and abetting these acts.
In juvenile criminal law, the criminal justice judge can refrain from imposing costs and expenses.
The OLG had not made use of this option at S.
The BGH judges see it as "no arbitrary application of the law".
It is not unreasonable "that the Higher Regional Court, within the scope of its discretion, also took into account the weight of the complainant's act and its consequences."
The Senate examined the content of the decision, although it did not consider the isolated complaint on costs to be admissible without an appeal.
The revisions of the other four defendants have been available to the 3rd Criminal Senate responsible for state protection offenses since January.
The judges had announced at the time that the induction and examination would probably take a few months.
Zschäpe had lived underground with her friends Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Böhnhardt for almost 14 years.
During this time, the men murdered eight small business owners of Turkish origin and one of Greek origin, as well as a policewoman.
In 2011 they committed suicide to avoid arrest.
Zschäpe set fire to the shared apartment, sent a confessional video and turned himself in.
Icon: The mirror
wit / dpa / AFP
