German court convicts ex-concentration camp guard

A German court convicted a 93-year-old former SS private of being an accessory to murder at the Stutthof concentration camp, where he served as a guard in the final months of World War II.

Bruno Dey was convicted of 5,232 counts of accessory to murder by the Hamburg state court on Thursday and given a two-year suspended sentence, news agency dpa reported. That's equal to the number of people believed to have been killed at Stutthof during his service there in 1944 and 1945. He also was convicted of one count of being an accessory to attempted murder.

Because he was only 17, and later 18, at the time of his alleged crimes, Dey's case was heard in juvenile court. Prosecutors had called for a three-year sentence, while the defense sought acquittal.

The trial opened in October and because of Dey's age, court sessions were limited to two, two-hour sessions a week. Additional precautions were taken to keep the case going through the height of the coronavirus pandemic.