The Nazi murder law that still exists

The long arm of Nazi law reaches down even to our own times. The Third Reich might have been destroyed but its legislation on murder remains in force. Some of Germany's most eminent lawyers say it perpetuates injustice, and must be scrubbed out.

Marianne Bachmeier shot her daughter's alleged killer as he stood trial in court.

 A surviving statute from 1941 means that women who kill their abusive husbands are more likely to be jailed for murder than husbands who beat their wives to death. According to the German Association of Lawyers, the Nazis decided that a murderer was someone who killed "treacherously" or "sneakily" - "heimtueckisch" is the word in the law and it remains there today.