by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

Former SS officer Siert Bruins, accused of murdering a Dutch resistance fighter over 70 years ago, is set to appear in court on Monday in Hagen, Germany.

Bruins, now 92 years old, is charged with the murder of Aldert Klaas Dijkema back in September 1944, while Bruins was stationed at the Dutch-German border. Bruins could face life imprisonment if he is found guilty of the murder.

Bruins, originally from Groningen in the north-east of the Netherlands, is one of the last suspected Nazi criminals to be detained in Germany.

Another former SS officer, Heinrich Boere, was convicted of murdering three Dutch civilians during World War II back in 2010.

Bruins is accused of shooting POW Aldert Klaas Dijkema four times in the back, in September 1944 in the Appingedam area east of Groningen. Bruins has admitted being present at the scene of the murder, but denies being the triggerman to the shooting. He contends that he was marching alongside Dijkema when the shots occurred. An alleged accomplice to the murder has recently died.

“I was marching at the prisoner’s side. Suddenly I heard a shot and he fell,” Bruins has stated.

Bruins was one of roughly 30,000 Dutch citizens who worked with the Nazis during the German occupation of the Netherlands.

After the collapse of the Third Reich, Bruins was sentenced to death by the Netherlands in April 1949 for participating in this murder, as well as two other shootings, and the sentence was converted to life imprisonment. However, Bruins had become a German citizen, as Germany conferred German nationality on all foreigners who aided the Nazis during World War II. Accordingly, Dutch authorities failed to detain Bruins because he fled to Germany, as Germany does not extradite its nationals.

Bruins was, however, detained by the German authorities and sentenced to seven years in prison in February 1980 for the murder of two Jewish brothers in Delfzijl in the Netherlands in April 1945.

For more information, please see:

The China Post – Former SS Officer to Stand Trial in Germany – 2 September 2013

BBC News – Nazi Murder Trial: Ex-SS Man Siert Bruins Due in German Court – 1 September 2013

The Gulf Today – Former SS Officer, 92, to Stand Trial in Germany – 1 September 2013

Huffington Post – Siert Bruins, German Man, Charged With Nazi War Crimes – 1 September 2013