Former Nazi charged with WWII murder
By MARIA MARQUART Associated Press • July 18, 2008
MUNICH, Germany - An 89-year-old former Nazi officer was charged with murder on Friday in the killing of 14 civilians in Italy during World War II, German officials said.
Josef Eduard Scheungraber will go on trial Sept. 15, the Munich state court said.
Prosecutors accuse Scheungraber, who was stationed in Italy as the commander of a mountain infantry batallion, of ordering his troops to kill the civilians at Falzano di Cortona, near the Tuscan town of Arezzo, in June 1944 in reprisal for the killing of two German soldiers.
The troops shut 11 people in a farmhouse and blew up the building
Anton Winkler, a spokesman for Munich prosecutors, said the charges were based on documents and witness testimony, including that of a survivor of the massacre.
In September 2006, a military court in La Spezia, Italy, found Scheungraber and another former German soldier guilty of complicity in murdering civilians following a trial conducted in absentia.
They were sentenced to life in prison and ordered to pay compensation to the town of Cortona and to the families of the victims.
The defendant lives in Bavaria, and Winkler said that German judicial authorities needed to evaluate the case themselves for Scheungraber to face any punishment.
Scheungraber denies the charges, Winkler said. He added that the defendant acknowledges he was part of the unit in question, but maintains that he knew nothing about the killings at the time and was not involved in them.
An expert has determined that he is fit to stand trial, but only for a few hours at a time owing to his advanced age, Winkler added.
Former Nazi charged with WWII murder | CourierPostOnline.com | Courier-Post
Former Nazi charged with WWII murder
For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman. 
