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German court throws out case against former SS man accused of massacre, for lack of evidence

Associated Press
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FILE - A Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013 file photo showing France's President Francois Hollande, right, and German President Joachim Gauck, paying their respects after laying a wreath at the cemetery of the French martyr village of Oradour-sur-Glane, southwestern France. A German court on Tuesday threw out the case of a former SS man accused of involvement in the largest civilian massacre in Nazi-occupied France, saying there was not enough evidence to bring the 89-year-old to trial. Cologne resident Werner C., whose last name has not been revealed in accordance with German privacy laws, was charged with murder and accessory to murder in connection with the 1944 slaughter in Oradour-sur-Glane in southwestern France. (AP Photo/Phillipe Wojazer, Pool, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - A Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013 file photo showing from left, Mayor of Oradour-sur-Glane, Raymond Fugier, German President Joachim Gauck, French President Francois Hollande and Robert Hebras, one of the two survivors still alive, walk through the ghost city of Oradour-sur-Glane, southwestern France, where on June 10, 1944, the Nazis massacred 642 civilians. A German court on Tuesday threw out the case of a former SS man accused of involvement in the largest civilian massacre in Nazi-occupied France, saying there was not enough evidence to bring the 89-year-old to trial. Cologne resident Werner C., whose last name has not been revealed in accordance with German privacy laws, was charged with murder and accessory to murder in connection with the 1944 slaughter in Oradour-sur-Glane in southwestern France. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, Pool, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Jan. 1, 1953 b/w file picture, an aerial view of the destroyed Oradour-sur-Glane, in France is visible . A German court on Tuesday Dec. 9, 2014 threw out the case against a former SS man accused of involvement in the largest civilian massacre in Nazi-occupied France, saying there was not enough evidence to bring the 89-year-old to trial. Cologne resident Werner C., whose last name has not been revealed in accordance with German privacy laws, was charged with murder and accessory to murder in connection with the 1944 slaughter in Oradour-sur-Glane in southwestern France. (AP Photo,File) (The Associated Press)

A German court says it has thrown out the case of a former SS man accused of involvement in the largest civilian massacre in Nazi-occupied France.

The Cologne state court said Tuesday there is not enough evidence to bring 89-year-old Werner C. to trial for accessory to murder in connection with the 1944 slaughter in Oradour-sur-Glane in southwestern France, in which 642 men, women and children were killed.

The court says the suspect, whose last name was not released in line with German privacy laws, does not deny being at the village but says he never fired a shot or participated in the massacre in any other way.

It says neither documentary evidence nor witness statements are able to prove he took part.