Former Nazi death squad leader guilty of massacring French village under investigation for hate speech

A commemorative plaque is pictured on November 13, 2017 in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, northern France, reminding of the April 2, 1944 WWII massacre of 86 civilians by a Nazi Germany regiment. After a 1949 trial that ended with the acquittal in 1955 of 17 Nazi SS officers and soldiers, victims' relatives are hoping a trial could be re-opened by Germany's legal system. (AFP/Getty Images)

A 96-year-old former Nazi SS junior squad leader is being investigated in Germany over his involvement in the massacre of 86 French men and boys in a French village in 1944.

Karl Münter is being probed following a TV interview last year where he made inflammatory comments and disputed the murder of six million Jews in the Holocaust.

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The man was sentenced to death in France in absentia in 1949 and therefore can no longer be prosecuted for the killings again, according to the BBC.

The EU law also bars a member of one state of being accused of a crime that he has already been convicted in another state, meaning he cannot face the crimes for killings in France also because the statute of limitations has already expired.

Münter participated in the killings of the village of Ascq in April 1944, where men and boys were dragged to a railway and shot up, with the youngest victim being just 15 years old.

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A photo taken on Decembre 5, 2018 in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, northern France, shows a reproduction of a photograph showing coffins after the massacre of Ascq in 1944 during WWII.  (AFP/Getty Images)

He was a 21-year-old junior squad leader at the time of the killings and was identified as the suspect together with 16 other killer Nazis, who were either sentenced to death and later pardoned or sentenced to death in absentia.

But despite not being able to face charges for the killings, German authorities are pointing to Münter’s TV interview where he made inflammatory remarks and investigating whether he incited hatred and is guilty of hate speech.

In the interview last year, he blamed the victims for the massacre, saying the victims tried to run away from the Nazi death squad, and denied firing a shot, insisting he carried out only the arrests.

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“If I arrest the men I'm responsible for them. And if they run away I have the right to shoot them,” he said, according to the BBC. “Why should I regret it?” he said when asked about his participation in the war crimes. “I didn't fire a shot.”

Münter also gained prominence among Neo-Nazis for his comments disputing the murder of Jews in the Holocaust.