The so-called "Nazi bride" Beate Zschaepe spoke out in a statement read at her trial in Germany on Wednesday and insisted that she did not participate in a 10-person killing spree along with members of the National Socialist Underground terror cell.
Prosecutors say Zschaepe, 40, is the last surviving member of the neo-Nazi gang responsible for a seven-year crime binge, including murder, bombings, and
bank robberies, NBC News reported. Her trial began two and a half years ago.
But Zschaepe denies taking part in any of the crimes, saying instead that she was only financially dependent on the group's leaders and not strong enough to leave. She also denies ever being an actual member of the NSU but did say she fell in love with group member Uwe Mundlos and later met another member, Uwe Boehnhardt, and his
nationalist associates, according to BBC News.
"I was involved neither in the preparations, nor in the carrying out," Zschaepe said in the statement read by her lawyers in court this week, adding that she distanced herself from the group's activities by playing computer games and drinking up to four bottles of sparkling wine a day.
"It was very clear to me that I couldn't return to normal life. They didn't need me — I needed them," the statement continued.
Mundlos and Boehnhardt reportedly killed each other in 2011 in what was believed to be a suicide pact, BBC News reported. Zschaepe turned herself in days later.
"I feel morally guilty that I could not prevent 10 murders and two bomb attacks . . . carried out by Uwe Mundlos und Uwe Boehnhardt," Zschaepe's statement said.
But some victims were disappointed in the statement and felt Zschaepe's words were self-serving.
"I don't believe a word of it," Gamze Kabasik, whose father Mehmet Kubasik was murdered by the
National Socialist Underground in 2006, told The Guardian. "The meager hopes I had from the outset that this explanation would clarify the precise circumstances of my father's murder have been dashed. It's pure tactics and appears completely contrived. Neither do I accept her apology."
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