German legislators issue subpoenas in neo-Nazi murders inquiry

Feb 9, 2012, 13:17 GMT

Berlin - German legislators on Thursday issued 38 subpoenas in an inquiry into a decade-long murder wave by a neo-Nazi gang that targeted Turkish immigrant shopkeepers in the country.

The parliamentary commission of inquiry issued the subpoenas for documents from federal prosecutors and other authorities and invited an official to describe the impact of the murders on minorities.

Barbara John is to brief the panel on her contacts with the families of eight Turkish shopkeepers, a Greek man and a policewoman who prosecutors say were shot dead in the hate crimes. John had been appointed by parliament to assist the families.

Hearings are scheduled to begin in March.

The parliamentary inquiry is to focus on why police and domestic intelligence did not spot the National Socialist Underground, a trio operating with false identities since 2000.

The neo-Nazi group collapsed in November, when its two male members died in an apparent suicide pact and the third, Beate Zschaepe, 36, turned herself in.

Zschaepe and five alleged supporters are in custody but have not been indicted.