Former Nazi Death Camp Guard, A Centenarian, Cleared to Stand Trial
German courts have cleared the path for a trial involving an alleged Nazi concentration camp guard who is 100 years old. Read Full Article at RT.com
TroibNews 
Earlier this year, Gregor Formanek was deemed not fit to appear before the courts.
German courts have paved the way for a 100-year-old alleged former concentration camp guard to stand trial, reversing an earlier lower court's determination that he was unfit to do so.
The individual, identified as Gregor Formanek by German media, faced charges last year for his involvement in the murder of over 3,300 people while serving in an SS guard battalion at the Sachsenhausen death camp during World War II.
In February, a medical expert assessed the centenarian's physical and mental condition, concluding that he was incapable of participating in a trial. Consequently, a district court in Hanau decided to halt further proceedings.
However, a higher regional court in Frankfurt ruled on Tuesday that the expert's assessment was inadequate, following appeals from a local prosecutor’s office and multiple co-plaintiffs regarding the Hanau district court's ruling.
Frankfurt Attorney General Torsten Kunze expressed his approval of the decision, emphasizing that the trial might be one of the last of its kind and highlighting its historical significance, as reported by the German daily Frankfurter Rundschau.
According to German law, individuals who worked at Nazi concentration camps can be prosecuted as accomplices to the murders carried out there. A significant legal precedent was established in 2011 when John Demjanjuk, a Ukrainian guard at the Sobibor death camp, was convicted of aiding in the murder of 28,060 Jews.
Since then, various former staff members of Nazi concentration camps have been convicted in Germany.
Formanek is said to have been part of an SS guard battalion at Sachsenhausen concentration camp from 1943 to 1945. Situated just north of Berlin, Sachsenhausen housed over 200,000 Soviet soldiers, Jews, gypsies, and other prisoners from its establishment in 1936 until it was liberated by Soviet and Polish troops in 1945.
Estimates of inmate fatalities at the camp vary, with between 40,000 and 100,000 individuals reportedly having died due to forced labor, starvation, execution, and medical experiments.
Jessica Kline contributed to this report for TROIB News
German courts have paved the way for a 100-year-old alleged former concentration camp guard to stand trial, reversing an earlier lower court's determination that he was unfit to do so.
The individual, identified as Gregor Formanek by German media, faced charges last year for his involvement in the murder of over 3,300 people while serving in an SS guard battalion at the Sachsenhausen death camp during World War II.
In February, a medical expert assessed the centenarian's physical and mental condition, concluding that he was incapable of participating in a trial. Consequently, a district court in Hanau decided to halt further proceedings.
However, a higher regional court in Frankfurt ruled on Tuesday that the expert's assessment was inadequate, following appeals from a local prosecutor’s office and multiple co-plaintiffs regarding the Hanau district court's ruling.
Frankfurt Attorney General Torsten Kunze expressed his approval of the decision, emphasizing that the trial might be one of the last of its kind and highlighting its historical significance, as reported by the German daily Frankfurter Rundschau.
According to German law, individuals who worked at Nazi concentration camps can be prosecuted as accomplices to the murders carried out there. A significant legal precedent was established in 2011 when John Demjanjuk, a Ukrainian guard at the Sobibor death camp, was convicted of aiding in the murder of 28,060 Jews.
Since then, various former staff members of Nazi concentration camps have been convicted in Germany.
Formanek is said to have been part of an SS guard battalion at Sachsenhausen concentration camp from 1943 to 1945. Situated just north of Berlin, Sachsenhausen housed over 200,000 Soviet soldiers, Jews, gypsies, and other prisoners from its establishment in 1936 until it was liberated by Soviet and Polish troops in 1945.
Estimates of inmate fatalities at the camp vary, with between 40,000 and 100,000 individuals reportedly having died due to forced labor, starvation, execution, and medical experiments.
Jessica Kline contributed to this report for TROIB News
