A sentence of life imprisonment was demanded today by the state prosecutor in the re-trial of Martin Fellenz, a former SS Lt. Col and former Nazi police chief in Cracow in occupied Poland during the war.
Fellenz was sentenced to a four-year term in his first trial in Flensburg in connection with the deportation of 38,000 Jews in the Cracow area. He was released soon after the start of his term because the court ordered the period of his pre-trial detention deducted from his sentence.
The Flensburg prosecutor appealed against the light sentence and the West German High Court ordered a second trial. New charges have been made against Fellens during the new trial. He has denied all charges, asserting that responsibility for actions in occupied Poland rested with the Nazi police chief for the entire area, a statement in conflict with prosecution evidence that local Nazi polic chiefs had authority to order deportations.
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