A former member of the Nazi SS has gone on trial in Germany charged with the wartime murder of three civilians in the Netherlands, BBC reports.Heinrich Boere, 88, has previously acknowledged shooting dead three people in 1944, as reprisals for attacks by the Dutch resistance. The trial went ahead after an appeal court ruled he was fit to be tried. However, the hearing was adjourned when the five-judge panel said it needed time to consider more legal argument.
The trial is due to resume on Monday, court officials said BBC news. Anti-Nazi protesters had gathered outside the court in Aachen as the trial opened. Relatives of some of the victims were also in court.
Correspondents said Heinrich Boere entered the courtroom in a wheelchair with a doctor by his side, but appeared alert and attentive as he answered questions. The hearing was adjourned shortly afterwards.
The defendent is charged with killing three men: Fritz Bicknese, a chemist and father of 12; bicycle seller Teun de Groot, who helped Jews go into hiding; and resistance member Frans Kusters. He admitted the killings to Dutch authorities while in captivity after the war, but escaped before he could be brought to trial. He later fled to Germany.
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