96-year-old on run, disrupting trial for Nazi concentration camp role
BERLIN, SEPT 30( REUTERS )- A 96-year-old German woman was caught hours after failing to turn up for her trial on Thursday on charges of aiding and abetting mass murder in a Nazi concentration camp during World War Two, a court spokesperson said.
Irmgard Furchner is accused of having contributed as an 18-yearold to the murder of 11,412 people when she was a typist at the Stutthof concentration camp between 1943 and 1945.
But her trial in the far northern town of Itzehoe could not begin in her absence.“the defendant left her home in the early hours of this morning and took a taxi to an unknown location,” court spokesperson Frederike Milhoffer said.the spokesperson said an arrest warrant had been issued. Itzehoe is some 100 km (60 miles) from the Danish border.
Milhoffer later confirmed that Furchner had been detained and that a doctor was now assessing whether her health would allow her to be imprisoned.the next hearing was scheduled for Oct. 19, she said.
Charges cannot be read until Furchner, who faces trial in an adolescent court because of her young age at the time of the alleged crimes, is present in court in person.