German court orders Turkish media access to neo-Nazi trial
Baku, April 15 (AZERTAC). Germany`s top court Friday upheld a complaint by a Turkish newspaper over media access to a neo-Nazi trial in a controversy that had strained ties with Ankara.
A woman believed to have been at the heart of a neo-Nazi cell accused of killing 10 people including eight ethnic Turks and a Greek man between 2000 and 2007 will sit in the dock in the southern city of Munich from Wednesday.
The presiding judge in the case assigned guaranteed seats at the hearings on a first-come, first-served basis, resulting in German reporters taking nearly all 50 of the reserved places and most international media outlets having no reliable access to the courtroom.
After a lawsuit by Turkish newspaper Sabah, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled Friday that the Munich tribunal must provide "an appropriate number of seats to representatives of foreign media with a particular connection to the victims".
The federal judges suggested reserving three seats for foreign media or restarting the press accreditation process from scratch.
The proceedings against Beate Zschaepe will be the most high-profile neo-Nazi murder trial of the post-war era in Germany.
The Turkish government, victims` representatives, German leaders and journalists had hit out at a lack of "sensitivity" by the Munich court in light of the massive public interest in the case.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said he was "very relieved" by the Constitutional Court`s decision, the website of the Spiegel news magazine reported.
He said the lack of space for international media at the trial had been "problematic".
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