The Auschwitz trial of the former SS medic Hubert Zafke continued today in Neubrandenburg. The Neubrandenburg Regional Court today rejected the petition accusing the presiding judge Klaus Kabisch of bias which the representatives of the joint plaintiffs entered a week ago on the last day of hearings.

Renewed petitions claiming bias were today lodged by the public prosecutor and other representatives of the joint plaintiffs. Thus the continuation of the scandals in this court procedure and the hopelessly overstretched capabilities of the court are again prolonging what has become a never-ending nightmare for the survivors of Auschwitz.

In a statement made during a stay at the Auschwitz Memorial, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:

"The Auschwitz survivors are following this trial with very keen attention. They had thought it utterly impossible that, even today, both they and their history could be treated with such blatant ignorance and denial in a German courtroom.
The biased approach of the presiding judge is disturbingly underscored by the defendant’s lawyer who again defamed these proceedings as a ‘show trial‘ in his last press release. Meanwhile, quite apart from the issue of the independence of the court, the pressing question is: how is it possible in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania that such an arrogant court can be entrusted with such a sensitive trial with the result that now, through many months of delay and obstruction, it is battering the image of the judiciary, not only in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. In particular, the survivors of Auschwitz deeply regret the polarisation that is being generated towards them through the course of this trial.”