Germany - Ex-Nazi Acquitted In 1945 Massacres

MUNICH, Germany - A former Nazi commander was acquitted of murder in three 1945 massacres in Slovakia after a court said Monday that there was no reliable evidence he was involved in the killings.
Ladislav Niznansky, 88, sat stone-faced as his acquittal on 164 counts of murder was announced in the Munich state court.

The charges against him were filed in connection with the slaying of 146 men, women and children in two Slovak villages and the later killing of 18 Jewish civilians after a failed uprising against Slovakia's Nazi puppet government.

Presiding Judge Manfred Goetzl cited contradictory evidence from witnesses as a reason for the acquittal, noting that some of them withdrew testimony given when Niznansky was convicted in absentia by communist Czechoslovakia in 1962.