BERLIN (AP) — A German court on Tuesday threw out
the case against a former SS man accused of involvement in the largest civilian
massacre in Nazi-occupied France, saying there was not enough evidence to bring
the 89-year-old to trial.
Cologne resident Werner C., whose last name has not
been revealed in accordance with German privacy laws, was charged with murder
and accessory to murder in connection with the 1944 slaughter of 642 civilians
in Oradour-sur-Glane in southwestern France.
In its ruling, the Cologne state court said no
witness statements disprove the suspect's contention that he was present but
did not take part, nor is there any reliable documentary evidence that he was
involved in the massacre.
Werner C. was part of the 3rd Company of the 1st
Battalion of the "Der Fuehrer" regiment of the fanatical SS's
"Das Reich" division. Four days after the June 6, 1944, D-Day
landings in Normandy the company attacked Oradour-sur-Glane in reprisal for the
French Resistance's kidnapping of a German soldier.
The troops herded the civilians into barns and into
the church, blocked the doors and then set fire to the entire town. Those not
killed in the blazes were shot as they tried to flee, though a handful managed
to escape.
"In a trial it could probably only be proved
the suspect was in the area during the massacre in Oradour-sur-Glane as he has
consistently maintained," the court said. "This mere presence is not
enough to prove accessory to murder without the proof of other
circumstances."
Dortmund prosecutor Andreas Brendel, who led the
investigation, said he was surprised by the court's decision but that it was
too early to say whether he would appeal.
"I brought charges because I believed that the
evidence was sufficient," he said. "The court came to a different
conclusion."
Attorney Thomas Walther said he would appeal on
behalf of his client, the brother of a young female schoolteacher who was
burned to death in the Oradour church, who has joined the case as a
co-plaintiff as allowed under German law.
In a gesture of reconciliation last year, German
President Joachim Gauck and French President Francois Hollande together visited
the phantom village — whose burned-out cars and abandoned buildings were left
as a memorial to the massacre.
No comments:
Post a Comment