Changes in West German law to make possible the prosecution of Nazi war criminals on new charges, even though the criminals had been previously convicted on other charges by the War Crimes Tribunal in 1947, were advocated here today by Dr. Fritz Schaeffer, Federal Minister of Justice. Dr. Schaeffer said he will propose such changes at the next conference of all State Ministers of Justice, scheduled to be held here in February or March.
Two causes in which courts have ordered dismissal of new charges against previously-convicted war criminals were sharply criticized here by Dr. Schaeffer today. In one case, last February, the Superior Court of Schleswig-Holstein dismissed new charges against Dr. Franz Schlegelberger, Deputy Minister of Justice under the Nazi regime.
In the new indictment, Dr. Schlegelberger was accused of having ordered the execution of a 70-year-old Jew previously sentenced by the Nazi regime to a jail term for a minor offense. The Schleswig-Holstein court ruled that this would be a case of “double Jeopardy.” Dr. Schlegelberger had been convicted of war crimes by the Nuremberg tribunal, and sentenced to life imprisonment. However, he was freed due to ill health and age. He is now 84.
Basing itself on the Schlegelberger decision, this month, another court dismissed charges against Ernst Lautz, a “peoples court” chief prosecutor during the Nazi regime, who had also been convicted at Nuremberg and subsequently released. The new indictment against Lautz listed 14 crimes not previously included in the charges at Nuremberg.
According to Dr. Schaeffer, the fact that a Nazi war criminal was convicted at Nuremberg should not foreclose prosecutions on newly discovered evidence relating to other crimes. He said he will seek such an interpretation of the law from all the State Ministers of Justice, making possible new prosecutions against Nazi war criminals.
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