A German court has decided to shelve the case against a 92-year-old former member of the Nazi SS, saying there are too many gaps in the evidence some 70 years later to deliver a verdict.

Dutch-born Siert Bruins, now a German citizen, went on trial in September in the western city of Hagen on charges that he executed a resistance fighter in the northern Netherlands in 1944.

Bruins’ lawyer argued his client didn’t know of plans to kill the fighter, and that another now-deceased SS man pulled the trigger.

The dpa news agency reported Wednesday that the court shelved the case instead of delivering a verdict, saying too much evidence was missing and it was no longer possible to question witnesses in many cases.

(AP)