BERLIN (AP) - Lawyers for the main defendant in a high-profile neo-Nazi murder trial in Germany have begun their closing arguments - five years after proceedings opened.

Beate Zschaepe, the only known survivor of the far-right National Socialist Underground group, is accused of taking part in 10 killings, two bomb attacks and several bank robberies.

The 43-year-old's lawyers told the Munich regional court Tuesday that their client didn't have an equal role in the killings committed by two deceased members of the group.

In this Tuesday, March 13, 2018 photo terror suspect Beate Zschaepe, center, arrives in a court room between her lawyers Hermann Borchert, left, and Mathias Grasel, right, in Munich, Germany. The lawyers for the main defendant in a high-profile neo-Nazi murder trial have begun their closing arguments, five years after proceedings opened. Beate Zschaepe, the only known survivor of the far-right National Socialist Underground group, is accused of taking part 10 killings, two bomb attacks and several bank robberies. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, Pool)

Prosecutors want life imprisonment for Zschaepe and lesser sentences for four defendants accused of helping the group. They, and lawyers representing some of the victims, finished their closing arguments in February.

The trial, which was drawn out by regular delaying motions by the defendants, is expected to conclude within weeks.

In this Tuesday, March 13, 2018 photo terror suspect Beate Zschaepe, center, sits in a court room between her lawyers Hermann Borchert, left, and Mathias Grasel, right, in Munich, Germany. The lawyers for the main defendant in a high-profile neo-Nazi murder trial have begun their closing arguments, five years after proceedings opened. Beate Zschaepe, the only known survivor of the far-right National Socialist Underground group, is accused of taking part 10 killings, two bomb attacks and several bank robberies. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, Pool) </s> A Munich court has found the main defendant in a high-profile neo-Nazi trial guilty of murder over the killing of 10 people — most of them migrants.

The victims were gunned down between 2000 and 2007 in a case that shocked Germany.

Judges have sentenced Beate Zschaepe to life in prison.

The 43-year-old was arrested in 2011, shortly after her two accomplices were found dead in an apparent murder-suicide.

Together with the men, Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Boehnhardt, she had formed the National Socialist Underground, which pursued an ideology of white racial supremacy by targeting migrants, mostly of Turkish origin.

Authorities for years failed to attribute the killings and two bomb attacks to a far-right group, instead investigating non-existent gangland links. </s> Defense lawyers asked a court in Munich on Thursday to give Beate Zschäpe a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for her involvement in the National Socialist Underground (NSU) terrorist cell.

State attorneys had demanded a life sentence for Zschäpe, who they say helped mastermind and carry out a string of murders and bomb attacks between 2000 and 2007.

Read more: What is Germany's NSU terror trial?

The facts of the case:
• Zschäpe is the only surviving member of the NSU, which also included Uwe Böhnhardt and Uwe Mundlos. Both men committed suicide after authorities identified the group in 2011.
• The NSU allegedly murdered nine people with immigrant backgrounds and a police officer. They have also been accused of committing two bomb attacks and a series of bank robberies.
• Zschäpe has been charged with joint complicity in 10 counts of murder, arson, multiple robberies, extortion, the formation of a terrorist organization and membership in a terrorist organization.
• Federal prosecutors have said Zschäpe should serve a maximum life-in-prison sentence.
• But her lawyer, Mathias Grasel, said on Thursday that she was guilty of arson, extortion, aiding multiple robberies, and conspiracy to commit robberies, but that there was no evidence for her the other charges. Her sentence, they said, should not exceed 10 years in prison.

"These crimes [the murders] were committed solely by Uwe Böhnhardt and Uwe Mundlos," adding: "my client cannot be made responsible for the acts of the two men as the only survivor [of the group]."

"The legal system must be able to deal with crimes for which the actual perpetrators can no longer be held accountable."

Who is Beate Zschäpe? Zschäpe is a 43-year-old from Jena in eastern Germany, where she, Böhnhardt and Mundlos had been active in the right-wing extremist scene. She has been in pretrial detention since 2011.

Mammoth trial: The trial against Zschäpe started in 2013 in Munich's Higher Regional Court.

What happens next? The court is set in the next few weeks to hear pleas from Zschäpe's previous lawyers, who she had thrown out, and four people accused of helping the NSU. A final ruling is expected sometime after June.
The terror trial of Beate Zschäpe hears closing arguments in Germany. In addition to a series of murders, Zschäpe stands accused of bombings and bank robberies.