Insufficient evidence cited in case against ex-Nazi

COLOGNE, Germany, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- A Cologne, Germany, court said Tuesday a case against a former Nazi soldier accused of involvement in a 1944 massacre in France will be dropped because of insufficient evidence.

The suspect, identified as Werner Christukat, 89, was charged earlier this year with the deaths of 25 people, and for aiding in the deaths of hundreds more, in Nazi-occupied France on June 10, 1944, four days after the D-Day invasion. Prosecutors said he, 19 at the time, was part of a firing squad in the southwestern French village of Oradour-sur-Glane, and later was involved in the burning of a church in which hundreds were imprisoned.

The 642 victims that day included 181 men, 254 women and 207 children.

The accused man admitted being a member of the SS, the Nazi paramilitary organization, and present at the scene of the massacre, but denied involvement.

The court said the available evidence was "unlikely to prove that the accused took part in the killings." It noted his name on a list of machine-gun operators who allegedly participated is "not sufficient proof" of his involvement, adding no witnesses linked him to the massacre and his name is on no list of interrogations.