HAMBURG, Germany—Ninety-year-old Josef Scheungraber, a former infantry commander during World War II, was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Munich state court on Tuesday after an 11 month investigation. The case is one of the last Nazi crime trials in Germany.
Scheungraber was found guilty of issuing a command to kill 10 Italian civilians in 1944 in Tuscany, Western Italy, as a reprisal action for the death of two soldiers after an attack by the Italian army. Although it has been claimed that 14 civilians were killed, only 10 cases of death could be used by the court to convict him due to lack of evidence.
According to a witness, Gino Massetti, German soldiers killed a 74-year-old woman and three men in the street. Eleven other civilians were put into a farmhouse, which the Germans then blew up. At that time the 15-year-old Massetti was the only survivor. He provided evidence during the trial in Munich.
The lawyers Rainer Thesen and Klaus Goebel defended Scheungraber’s case, demanding an end to the proceedings on the grounds that the defendant is too old to be sentenced according to the European Union’s Human Rights convention, though this was unsuccessful.
Scheungraber himself denied knowledge of the incident in Tuscany. One witness, who appeared very late during the investigation, testified that he once boasted about the murder.
Scheungraber, a former carpenter, was a well-known citizen for more than 64 years in Ottobrunn near Munich. In his hometown he was an honorary brigade commander. He served 20 years on the Town Council and was awarded a medal in April 2005.
Scheungraber was found guilty of issuing a command to kill 10 Italian civilians in 1944 in Tuscany, Western Italy, as a reprisal action for the death of two soldiers after an attack by the Italian army. Although it has been claimed that 14 civilians were killed, only 10 cases of death could be used by the court to convict him due to lack of evidence.
According to a witness, Gino Massetti, German soldiers killed a 74-year-old woman and three men in the street. Eleven other civilians were put into a farmhouse, which the Germans then blew up. At that time the 15-year-old Massetti was the only survivor. He provided evidence during the trial in Munich.
The lawyers Rainer Thesen and Klaus Goebel defended Scheungraber’s case, demanding an end to the proceedings on the grounds that the defendant is too old to be sentenced according to the European Union’s Human Rights convention, though this was unsuccessful.
Scheungraber himself denied knowledge of the incident in Tuscany. One witness, who appeared very late during the investigation, testified that he once boasted about the murder.
Scheungraber, a former carpenter, was a well-known citizen for more than 64 years in Ottobrunn near Munich. In his hometown he was an honorary brigade commander. He served 20 years on the Town Council and was awarded a medal in April 2005.
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