Aachen, Germany - Germany is to put an 88-year-old man on trial, charging he was one of a band of Dutch assassins working for the Nazi SS in 1944. Cologne judges have ruled that the Dutch-speaking accused, who has cardiac disease and lives in an old-people's home near Aachen on the Dutch border, is fit to appear, a court spokesman said Tuesday.
He was allegedly in the Feldmeijer special force, a death squad set up by the SS, and is accused of murdering three Dutchmen suspected of working for the Dutch resistance.
The Netherlands has sentenced him to life imprisonment, but Germany has no legal power to extradite him because he is a German citizen.
The state superior court rejected a lower court ruling that he was no longer fit.
It said court hours and facilities could be adapted to cater to the accused's physical frailty. It added that a psychologist and nursing home staff confirmed the man was psychologically fit.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center, dedicated to catching the last Nazi war criminals, praised the ruling, adding it was vital to begin the trial quickly because of his age.
Germany is also trying Josef Scheungraber, 90, for allegedly killing 14 Italians in 1943. Last week, it ruled that John Demjanjuk, 89, is fit to stand trial for allegedly helping kill 29,000 Jews at a Nazi death camp in 1943.
