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German prison camp guard charged with war crimes over murder of Soviet soldiers

Prosecutors in Germany have indicted a Wehrmacht soldier who manned watchtowers in a prisoner of war camp in the Second World War in what could be the start of a new series of prosecutions for Nazi war crimes after the focus has previously been on concentration camps.

The Berlin state prosecutor’s office has charged the 98-year-old Berlin man with alleged complicity in the murder of 809 Soviet prisoners at the “Stalag 365” POW camp in the city of Volodymyr-Volynskyy in what is now western Ukraine.

The POWs were among the 3 million Soviets who died by execution, forced labour, starvation, thirst and exposure while in captivity during WWII.

The Berlin court is awaiting further information on the man's supposed involvement in the deaths before it proceeds with trial.

A spokeswoman for the Berlin criminal courts told The Times: 'He is accused of being aware of the deprivation and the starvation of prisoners of war and having thereby made himself culpable.' 

Read more at the Times 

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