Time is running out
And it's a race to the finish line!
No, not a Tokyo Olympics' track event. The race in this case is between German prosecutors and the Grim Reaper. A 100-years-old alleged former Nazi concentration camp guard will stand trial, accused of complicity in 3,518 murders.
On Monday prosecutors confirmed the man would be fit to stand trial in October. Prosecutors said the man underwent a medical assessment which, despite his advanced age, deemed him fit to appear in court for two-and-a-half hours per day.
Joshua Nevett, BBC News
Still, they'd better be quick about it.
Germany needs to prosecute as many war criminals as possible, to assuage national guilt. Those who were involved in atrocities are getting away unpunished, however, by the simple expedient of shuffling off this mortal coil. Consequently, legislators have had to lower the bar for eligibility, in order to make the quotas.
Germany has been pursuing former Nazi camp workers since a landmark ruling in 2011 that convicted a former guard, John Demjanjuk, as an accessory to mass murder. He died pending an appeal, but the verdict set a legal precedent. Previously, courts had required evidence of direct involvement in atrocities.
Joshua Nevett, BBC News
Now, just having been there is good enough to be tried for war crimes. Den Boden des Fasses auskratzen, as they might say in Germany.