German politician faces new charges over massacre in Italy

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John Hooper in Rome and Luke Harding in Berlin
Friday October 29, 2004
The Guardian

A prominent left-wing German politician faces charges of mass murder for his alleged role in one of Italy's most gruesome wartime atrocities.

Military prosecutors in La Spezia have sent a formal caution to 89-year-old Klaus Konrad, a former Social Democrat MP and legal adviser to Willy Brandt, a former German chancellor.

The caution, a copy of which has been seen by the Guardian, warns Mr Konrad that he is formally under investigation on suspicion of causing the deaths of 61 people "needlessly and without a justified motive".

The prosecutors accuse him of taking part in a string of massacres in 1944 near the Tuscan city of Arezzo. They say some of the victims were buried alive and others were blown apart with explosives. Many were tortured before they were killed. The dead included children and women, one of whom was pregnant.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/germany/article/0,2763,1338772,00.html