Statement on the Verdict in the Second NSU Trial
After three-quarters of a year, the second NSU trial concluded on July 17, 2026.
The verdict: a 2-year prison sentence, suspended for 3 years on probation, for supporting a terrorist organization in three counts, one of which was in conjunction with aiding and abetting aggravated armed extortion.
Michalina Boulgarides: “A suspended sentence without conditions—to me, that’s clearly an acquittal. It’s very disheartening and deeply upsetting for us, the victims, and our families. We were hoping for justice for our fathers, but also for us, their daughters.”
The Dresden Higher Regional Court based its decision solely on the ruling of the Munich Higher Regional Court in the first NSU trial and adopted the key interpretations and assumptions made there. And this had consequences: For example, the NSU’s first attack in Nuremberg in 1999 was also ignored in this trial…
…the defendant herself remained silent throughout the trial and thus did not contribute to further clarifying the facts. Serkan Yildirim, a survivor of this first NSU attack, criticizes the verdict and the court’s conduct: “This is humiliating for us. How can a person have so many lives on their conscience and get off with such a lenient sentence? The trial was not fair.”
Serkan Yildirim was seriously injured in the bombing on Scheurlstraße in Nuremberg. However, the NSU was not held responsible for the crime—presumably an attempted homicide—until 2013, during the trial before the Munich Higher Regional Court. During his interrogation in 2013, he identified Susann E. in a photograph. However, this lead was not pursued further.
The court concluded that Susann E.’s actions strengthened the NSU and ensured its continued existence. However, mitigating circumstances, such as the length of the trial, were taken into account. A different verdict would have been possible:
The prosecution sought a four-year prison sentence for Susann E., while the defense sought an acquittal. Critics have taken issue not only with the lenient sentence but also with the refusal to allow the relatives of the murder victim and the survivors to file a civil suit.
