Germany’s top criminal court has rejected an 89-year-old man’s appeal against a life sentence given to him for killing three Dutch civilians during the Second World War.
Aachen state court said it was notified that the Federal Court of Justice had rejected Heinrich Boere’s appeal on December 1.
In March, the court sentenced Boere to life in prison for the 1944 killings of a bicycle shop owner, a pharmacist and another civilian while he was part of a Nazi SS hit squad.
Boere, the son of a Dutch man and a German woman, admitted to the killings during his trial but insisted he was just following orders.
The court, however, said in its ruling that “these were murders that could hardly be outdone in terms of baseness and cowardice”.
