World IN BRIEF : ITALY : Ex-Nazi’s Role in Massacre Defended
A former SS officer should not be punished as a war criminal for his role in a 1944 Italian massacre of 335 civilians because the slayings were an appropriate response to an attack that killed 33 German soldiers, his lawyer said. Ex-Nazi Erich Priebke was “following an order that he thought legitimate because it was a legitimate order of reprisal,” lawyer Velio di Rezze told a military court. Priebke has admitted that he killed two of the massacre victims and that he called out the names of 100 others who were led away and shot.
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