German ex-medic charged over Auschwitz deaths

A 94-year-old German man has been charged on 3,681 counts following allegations that he served at the Auschwitz concentration camp, a media report said.

Prosecutors said the defendant was a former SS sergeant who acted as a medical officer at a Nazi concentration camp in 1944, BBC reported.

The Auschwitz concentration camp was the largest of its kind and was established by the Nazi regime.

Auschwitz was actually three camps in one and it included a prison camp, an extermination camp and a slave labour camp.

If found guilty, he could face a jail term ranging from three to 15 years.

Defence lawyer Peter-Michael Disetel told German daily Bild that there was no evidence of a "concrete criminal act".

Despite his age, prosecutors said that he was fit to stand trial.

It is alleged that in his role as medical officer he helped the camp function and could therefore be linked to deaths that occurred during his period of service from Aug 15 to Sep 14, 1944.

About 1.1 million people, mostly European Jews, were killed at Auschwitz-Birkenau between 1940 and its liberation Jan 27, 1945.

Federal investigators recommended in 2013 that state prosecutors pursue charges against 30 former Auschwitz suspects under a new precedent in German law.

Earlier this month, a German court charged a 93-year-old man with 170,000 counts of accessory to murder on allegations he served as an SS guard at the death camp.

He allegedly served in Auschwitz from January 1942 to June 1944.

Another former Nazi guard is due to go on trial in April charged with at least 300,000 counts of accessory to murder.

Oskar Groening, also 93, was known as the "book-keeper of Auschwitz" and was allegedly responsible for counting bank notes confiscated from prisoners.