Accomplice to Germany neo-Nazi murder spree freed pending appeal
German judges ordered the release of a key accomplice to a neo-Nazi gang which killed 10 people in a seven-year, racially motivated murder spree, saying he had served enough of his sentence to no longer pose a flight risk pending his appeal.
Ralf Wohlleben was sentenced last week to 10 years in prison for procuring the weapon used to commit the murders. Beate Zschaepe, one of the gang's ringleaders, was jailed for life.
His release caused disquiet among Germans who are still shocked by the killings and the lacklustre policing in the case. Members of the National Socialist Underground (NSU) killed eight Turks, a Greek man and a German policewoman from 2000 to 2007.
Five of the 10 murders took place in Bavaria. They were the most violent attacks of their kind in Germany since the far-left Red Army Faction's two-decade killing spree that ended in 1991 and left at least 34 dead.
