Former concentration camp guard, aged 101, appeals sentence

A 101-year-old man has appealed the five-year jail sentence he was handed by a German court last week for aiding and abetting the murder of thousands of prisoners at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp during World War II.

The Brandenburg state court in Neuruppin, to the north-west of Berlin, confirmed his appeal on Monday.

Following delivery of the written verdict, he has a month to justify his appeal, court spokesperson Iris le Claire said. The court has until September 27 to finalize its written judgement, she added.

It would then be up to the Federal Court of Justice to decide on the appeal.

Throughout his trial, the accused denied that he had been a guard at Sachsenhausen concentration camp during the period in question, 1942-45.

The prosecution had produced documents identifying a Nazi SS guard with the accused’s name, date of birth and place of birth, among other evidence.

Defence lawyer Stefan Waterkamp had said right after the verdict that he would launch an appeal. He argued that, to date, the Federal Court of Justice had not considered activity as a concentration camp guard to be sufficient to convict someone for aiding and abetting Nazi crimes.