A former Auschwitz death camp guard has launched a bid for clemency in a final bid to avoid serving his sentence as an accessory to murder, German authorities said Monday. Attorneys for Oskar Groening, 96, filed the appeal with prosecutors in Lueneburg, where he was convicted in 2015 as an accessory to the murder of 300,000 Jews. He was sentenced to four years in prison, but hasn't yet spent any time behind bars because of the appeals process. Lueneburg prosecutors' spokeswoman Wiebke Bethke said her office would likely make a decision on the clemency request this week, in consultation with the panel of judges who convicted Groening. A doctor has previously declared Groening fit to go to prison so long as there is appropriate medical care.

Source: ABC News January 15, 2018 15:16 UTC