Van der Lubbe, a Dutchman active in Germany's communist underground, was found guilty of treason and arson by the Reichsgericht, Germany's highest court at the time, and sentenced to death in December 1933.
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Legal ups and downs After World War II, Van der Lubbe's brother attempted to have the verdict overturned, and had a short-lived success in 1980, when a West German court complied. Three years later, however, the Federal Court of Justice decided there had been no basis for re-examining the matter, and declared the West German court's decision illegal. On Thursday though, the Federal Court, acting on a petition from a Berlin lawyer, lifted the death penalty verdict based on a 1998 law that makes it possible to overturn legal injustices perpetrated by the Nazis. The acquittals of four other men tried alongside Van der Lubbe in 1933 remain in force, the prosecutor said.
(Deutsche Welle)
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