A protester killed: an American neo-Nazi pleads innocent

A neo-Nazi accused of murdering a protester in Charlottesville, US city, pleaded innocent in court. James Fields, 21, said today that the charges were unfounded at the beginning of his trial.

The man is accused of deliberately driving his car into a group of counter-protesters in August 2017 on the brink of a riot of right-wing extremists in the university city of Virginia. A 32-year-old woman was killed and several others were injured. Fields was arrested shortly after the crime.

Trump provoked outrage

The gathering of racists and neo-Nazis in Charlottesville had also made headlines on the international scene, not least because US President Donald Trump had soon identified the behavior of right-wing extremists and counter-protesters and had talked about "violence from many sides".

Fields is charged with murder at the Charlottesville Regional Court trial, as well as eight cases of aggravated badault and driver evasion. He faces a prison sentence for life.