In the trial of a suspected former SS guard at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, the defense attorney demanded that his client be acquitted.
[If you want all the latest news live on your phone, we recommend our app, which you can download here for Apple and Android devices.]
In the trial, no specific acts of aiding and abetting the murder of thousands of camp inmates could have been proven against the 101-year-old Josef S., said defense attorney Stefan Waterkamp in his plea on Monday. According to the case law of the Federal Court of Justice, general activity in the security service at the concentration camp is not sufficient for a conviction. In his final statement before the verdict expected on Tuesday, the accused again protested his innocence.
S. is accused of being an accessory to the murder of thousands of prisoners in the Neuruppin district court. For organizational reasons, the trial is being conducted at the home of the elderly defendant in Brandenburg/Havel.
In the trial that has been running since October last year, the 101-year-old has so far denied that he worked in the concentration camp at all and stated that he worked as a farmhand near Pasewalk (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) during the period in question from 1942 to early 1945.
However, the public prosecutor’s office bases its indictment on documents relating to an SS guard with the man’s name, date of birth and place of birth, as well as other documents.
