[ad_1]
A former nurse serving a life sentence for murder was tried Tuesday under the charge of killing another 100 patients in two German hospitals.
The nurse, Niels Hoegel, 41, told a court in Oldenburg, in the north-west of the country, that the charges against him were largely based, the agency reported. DPA press release.
The murder charges stem from the fact that Mr. Hoegel was hospitalized in Oldenburg between 1999 and 2002 and in Delmenhorst from 2003 to 2005. The patients were between 34 and 96 years old.
Mr. Hoegel was convicted in 2015 of two murders and two attempted murders. During this trial, he stated that he had intentionally caused heart attacks in about 90 patients in Delmenhorst because he felt that he could resuscitate them. He later told the investigators that he had also killed patients in Oldenburg.
The authorities subsequently investigated hundreds of deaths, exhuming the bodies of former patients.
The Oldenburg State Court is holding the trial in a conference center in order to take into account the large number of co-applicants and the high public interest.
Judge Sebastian Buehrmann opened the proceedings by asking everyone to stand for one minute of silence for the patients. He promised Mr. Hoegel a fair trial.
An additional conviction could affect Mr Hoegel's chances of obtaining a conditional release, but there is no consecutive sentence in Germany. As a general rule, persons serving life sentences are considered parolees after 15 years.
"We have been fighting for four years for this trial and are waiting for Hoegel to be convicted of 100 more murders," said Christian Marbach, patient relatives' representative. "The goal is for Hoegel to remain in detention as long as possible."
The trial is expected to last until May.
Police said that if the local health authorities had not hesitated to alert the authorities, Mr. Hoegel could have been arrested earlier. The authorities are prosecuting criminal cases against former staff members of both medical centers.
