A German court sentenced a 101-year-old man to five years in jail after finding him guilty of more than 3,500 charges of accessory to murder while serving as a Nazi concentration camp guard on Tuesday.

Due to privacy rules, the individual, known globally as Josef Schuetz and in Germany as Josef S, denied being an SS guard at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp during World War II.

Instead, he claimed that at the time he was working as a farmhand close to Pasewalk in northeastern Germany.

However, the Neuruppin Regional Court deemed it established that he served as an enlisted member of the Nazi Party’s paramilitary wing at the camp outside of Berlin between 1942 and 1945.

Judge Udo Lechtermann, presiding, stated, “The court has determined that, contrary to what you claim, you worked in the concentration camp for about three years as a guard. You willingly supported this mass extermination with your activity. You watched deported people being cruelly tortured and murdered there every day for three years.”

The source said that the prosecution’s case was supported by a number of documents, including those that listed the name, birthplace, and date of birth of an SS guard.

Stefan Waterkamp, the defendant’s defense counsel, declared he will appeal the decision after the jury’s five-year jail term was revealed.

Josef Schuster, chairman of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said that the conviction should be applauded even if the defendant would likely not spend the entirety of his jail term owing to his senior age.

The murderous apparatus was maintained by thousands of people who worked in the concentration camps, according to Schuster. They ought to accept accountability for the system as they contributed to it. It is disappointing that the defendant has disputed his actions at that time and has not shown regret.

The man’s verdict is supported by recent German legal law that holds that anybody who assisted in the operation of a Nazi concentration camp may be charged as an accomplice to murder.