US Nazi-suspect case moves ahead

BERLIN — Germany's highest criminal court has ruled that the country has jurisdiction over the case of a retired Minnesota carpenter revealed in an Associated Press investigation to be a former commander in a Nazi SS-led unit, according to a decision released Thursday.

The Federal Court of Justice said in its ruling that 95-year-old Michael Karkoc's service as a commander in the SS-led Ukrainian Self Defense Legion made him the "holder of a German office" — giving Germany the legal right to prosecute him even though he is not German himself, his alleged crimes were against non-Germans and they were not on German soil.

Someone in that role "served the purposes of the Nazi state's world view," the court said. (AP)