[JURIST] A German court on Tuesday threw out a case against a former SS soldier who was accused of being involved in the largest massacre in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. German prosecutors claim that Cologne resident Werner C. was part of a firing squad that killed 25 men and aided in the burning of church, which claimed the lives of many women and children. Werner C. stated that he was in the French village at the time but denied involvement in the incident. The German court found that it did not have enough evidence [AP report] to prove Werner’s guilt with the absence of reliable witness testimony and documentation against him. The German prosecutor has not yet stated whether he plans to appeal.

Prosecutors are in a race against time to find and prosecute the few remaining living Nazi war criminals who have escaped justice. In September German prosecutors charged [JURIST report] a 93-year-old former Waffen SS volunteer with aiding in the murder of at least 300,000 people during his time as a volunteer at Auschwitz. Last year German prosecutors brought a 92-year-old former Nazi to trial [JURIST report]. However, his case was dropped [JURIST report] in January due to too many gaps in the evidence. In June 2013 Hungarian prosecutors charged [JURIST report] Laszlo Csatary, a 98-year-old Hungarian man, with the unlawful execution and torture of people in connection with the Holocaust. Csatary died [JURIST report] in August 2013 while awaiting trial.