ARCHIV - 30.07.2014, Berlin: Amtsschilder vom Landgericht Berlin und der Staatsanwaltschaft Berlin sind am Gebäude vom Kriminalgericht Moabit befestigt. (zu dpa «Mann wegen Streit um das Sorgerecht für die Kinder erschossen?») Foto: Jens Kalaene/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa +++ dpa-Bildfunk +++

The Berlin judiciary is examining allegations against a suspected former security guard at a Wehrmacht prisoner of war camp. The Berlin public prosecutor has brought charges against the 98-year-old man and accuses him of being an accessory to 809 cases of cruel murder, a court spokeswoman said on Friday. The NDR had previously reported.

The court has so far not allowed the indictment from May, but has ordered follow-up investigations from the public prosecutor, as the spokeswoman said. So far, it is not foreseeable whether the process will take place.

The man, who according to the NDR lives in Berlin, is said to have been employed as a 19-year-old on a watchtower in the Vladimir-Wolynsk prisoner-of-war camp in what is now western Ukraine. Soviet soldiers were held there in inhumane conditions. Many prisoners starved to death or died of disease.

The indictment of the Berlin public prosecutor’s office accuses the 98-year-old of having supported these killings with his actions, they see the murder characteristic of cruelty fulfilled.

According to NDR, the soldier served in the camp from November 1942 to March 1943. Because he was under 21 at the time, he is considered an adolescent under today’s criminal law. That is why the charges were brought before a juvenile chamber of the Berlin district court.

According to information from the broadcaster, this is the first charge against a suspected guard at a Wehrmacht prisoner of war camp. Following the 2011 conviction of security guard John Demjanjuk for aiding and abetting thousands of murders, lower-ranking security guards are also being prosecuted. According to this changed legal practice, simple guard duty in a concentration camp in which people were systematically murdered is considered an accessory to murder.