Led and misled

At times, the trial - now on its 144th day - against the National Socialist Underground (NSU) cell at Munich's OLG court can be tiring.

But it can also be informative and shocking. That was the case last week when Tino Brandt was called as a witness. Brandt, a former neo-Nazi activist, worked as an informer for the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domestic intelligence agency.

This week, three of his so-called handlers from the regional authorities for the Protection of the Constitution in the state of Thuringia are called to testify. From the mid-1990s until media reports blew his cover in 2001, they worked with Brandt.

The 39-year-old founder of the so-called Thuringian Homeland Protection (THS) was a key figure in the group when Beate Zschäpe, the main defendant, and fellow NSU members Uwe Böhnhardt and Uwe Mundlos were involved in the neo-Nazi scene about 20 years ago.

Brandt's former handler, Reiner B., didn't mince words: "From head to toe, he was a rightwing extremist." And that hasn't changed, he said. Coming from an agent who dealt regularly with Brandt for about four years, this is a notable statement. After all, Brandt gave a completely different portrayal of himself a few days ago. He said he was opposed to violence and had plans to become a lawmaker for the rightwing party NPD.

Big shot in the far right scene

But that's not how the handler remembers dealing with Brandt as an informer. They weren't interested in having him be omnipresent, B. said, adding that it was difficult to stem Brandt's influence as THS initiator and officer of the far right NPD party. In fact, B. said, the Thuringian Office for the Protection of the Constitution was not pleased to see the informer was a "big shot" on the rightwing scene. From a current perspective, he said, keeping Brandt in check was "quite an impossible task."

Meanwhile, the handler at the time finds it regrettable in hindsight, "to have only had one source." Intelligence wise, it is always better to have two in order to confirm the information, B. emphasized. He did not believe, however, that the human source named "Brandt" was a complete failure from the perspective of the federal office. They had successfully forbidden him to take part in the so-called Wednesday get-togethers of the far right scene, while they had threatened to cancel his spying bonuses. At the time, Brandt was "obedient" and had done, "what we wanted and not what he wanted."

'Federal agents enabled the NSU to commit serious crimes'

Joint plaintiffs' attorney Thomas Bliwier is certain after Brandt's testimony and that of his handler B, that the questionable cooperation was "a complete failure" of the intelligence agency. In his statement at the end of the 144th day of proceedings in the NSU trial, Bliwier spoke of an "entanglement" of federal agents in the buildup of the THS. He also blamed the Thuringia Office for the Protection of the Constitution for the failed attempt to find the alleged NSU murderers Böhnhardt, Mundlos and Zschäpe, who went underground in 1998.

The questionable roll of the Thuringia authorities, but also other government agencies, have already been sharply criticized by the NSU examination committees of the Bundestag and the Thuringia state parliament. Bliwier, who is representing the interests of the family of NSU victim Halit Yozgat, draws a devastating conclusion. The Thuringia Homeland Protection group would "never" have achieved its national relevance without the state office for constitutional protection. Even more serious is Bliewier's accusation that the Thuringia federal agents had prevented the capture of the people in hiding and "enabled the NSU to commit serious crimes."

Unsuccessful "tracking technology"

The account of the former handler B. appears to be the exact opposite. He had supposedly fitted Brandt's car with "tracking technology," in order to be able to locate the hidden trio. But this measure did not help in tracking down the NSU trio.

In 1998, Böhnhardt, Mundlos and Zschäpe were able to escape the grasp of the security authorities. Two years later, a series of murders occurred, targeting nine men of Turkish and Greek descent as well as a female police officer. In the view of the joint-plaintiffs attorney, the neo-Nazi and informer Brandt played an important role in the radicalization of the alleged NSU murderers. His nickname had supposedly been "the arsonist," Bliwier claimed, drawing on evidence from the testimony of another far-right extremist.

Defense claims testimony "useless"

Meanwhile, Zschäpe's attorney Wolfgang Stahl assessed Brandt's eyewitness testimony and his former handler as exonerative for his client. Brandt is a "nearly notorious liar," Stahl said. Brandt had admitted to having lied to his comrades and the state authorities. The claims against his client were "fruitless" and "contradictory." According to Stahl, Brandt's testimony is "useless" for the evaluation of Zschäpe's potential guilt.