World: Neo-Nazi murder trial opens amid tight security

The highest-profile neo-Nazi murder trial in Germany in decades opened amid tight security and intense media interest, with the five accused appearing in public for the first time since their arrest more than a year ago.

Police erected security barriers in anticipation of possible protests by far-right extremist groups, while hundreds of reporters queued outside the Munich courthouse in the hope of gaining one of the few available seats in the packed courtroom for the start of a trial scheduled to last for more than a year.

The main defendant is Beate Zschaepe, 38, accused by prosecutors of complicity in the murder of eight Turks, a Greek and a policewoman between 2000 and 2007. If convicted she faces life imprisonment.