The German public prosecutor Ulrich Maass has demanded a life sentence for Dutchman Heinrich Boere. The former SS soldier is on trial for committing war crimes in the Netherlands during the Second World War.

The German Justice Department started the trial against 88-year-old Mr Boere in November 2009. The former corporal has already been tried and convicted for war crimes in the Netherlands in 1949, but fled to Germany before receiving his sentence. He had obtained a German citizenship under the Führererlass, a 1943 law that gave foreign soldiers a German passport, and because of his dual citizenship status the country was unable to extradite him.

Mr Boere served in the Sonderkommando-Feldmeijer, a special unit of the SS charged with tracking Dutchmen who opposed the Nazis. Mr Boere's unit killed more than fifty innocent Dutchmen as retribution for attacks by the Dutch resistance. In December, Mr Boere admitted his role in three of these executions, the murders of Dutchmen Frits Bicknese, Teun de Groot and Frans Kusters.

Mr Boere’s attorney argued that the corporal had no choice, as a member of the unit he was obliged to follow orders. However, the public prosecutor does not believe that mitigating circumstances apply. Mr Boere enlisted himself with the SS and voluntarily chose to serve in the Sonderkommando, Mr Maass argued.

The defence delivers its closing arguments on March 16th.

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