>> this is "dw news" live from berlin. 75 years since the start of the nuremberg trials in the german president takes part in mmemorations of the prosecutions of top nazi officials that help lay the foundations of the international criminal court. also on the program -- a german drug company and its u.s. partner seek emergency approval of their coronavirus vaccine in the united states. if successful, the companies say they could be sending out the

shots within hours. armenia begins handing over disputed territory to azerbaijan. ♪ i'm phil gayle. welcome to the program. 75 years ago today, the trials opened in nuremberg of high ranking members of the nazi dictatorship. today, a ceremony took place commemorating the historic event, including witnesses from the time. the judicial proceedings with the first of their kind. the nuremberg trials sought to hold individuals to account instead of punishing an entire country and laid the foundations of today's international criminal court in the hague.

>> 20th, 1945, many leading nazi figures had gone intoiding or committed suicide, including hier' but for the first time in history, the rulers of a country had to answer to an international criminal court. allies wanted to show that the individuals were being held responsible for the crimes of the nazi not the german people as a whole. the charges against the main war criminals included conspiracy against world peace, planning, unleashing, and conducting a war of aggression, crimes and violations of martial law, crimes against humanity. none of the accused were willing

to take responsibility. many germans only learn about the unbelievable extent of the crimes during the trial. on october 1, 1946, the sentences were handed down. three acquittals, three life sentences, 4 prison sentences, 12 death sentences were carried out shortly afterward. the nuremberg trials became a historical milestone and paved the way for the future international criminal court in the hague. phil: today's commemorations took place at nuremberg's palace of justice where those trials took place. the german president gave an address emphasizing their significance. >> the nuremberg trials were revolutionary. they did not just make legal history -- they made world history. a city known for the nuremberg rally and the race laws held a mirror up to germans. nuremberg confronted them in

plain view of the world with the fact that nazi is in itself, including its conduct, was criminal. if it were not for nuremberg, warlords from syria, croatia, and rwanda, for instance, would not have been punished for mass murder, torture, and rape, and genocide would not be prosecuted as a crime. if it were not for nuremberg, there would be no principle of international law, and national courts could not prosecute violations of international law. will: dw's political correspondent simon young is outside the palace of justice in nuremberg. welcome, simon. simon: it was a solemn act of remembrance, as it was called, in courtroom 600 in the building behind me in nuremberg's palace of justice.

president steinmeyer, as you heard there, was trying to draw the lessons of nuremberg and understand its significance today, saying that not offering a response to the unprecedented crimes of nazis was not an option. something had to be done, and nuremberg was that onset. it was a revolution, he said, of world historical significance that led to the international institutions of criminal justice such as the international criminal court, that we have today, and we also -- it also allowed for a reevaluation of the past here in germany itself, one of the important legacies that it had. the president's speech really looking at the broadview. we also heard from benjamin barrett, somebody who was involved in the nuremberg trials, as the chief prosecutor

in one of the follow-up trials to the main tribunal that happened in the late 1940's, and he appealed to people listening to him to really turn away from war, to assert the principle of law rather than war. he pointed out that even now, 75 years on after the nuremberg trials, wars are still going on and atrocities are still being committed. phil: we will hear from the menu mention here, part of a prosecuting team, who helped to build a case -- we will hea from the man you mentioned here. >> mass murder, unprecedented, i'm not going to let these bas

tards go. >> in 1947, he was 27 years old and had already fought as u.s. soldier against the nazis. >> i went into the concentrations -- concentration camps as they were liberated. nobody saw what i saw. dead bodies lying on the ground and piled up in the crematorium. >> he collected evidence of nazi war crimes. in the trials, he brought charges against more than 20 men for murdering one million people. in his indictments, however, he stressed that he did not want revenge. >> i said, how can i balance the scales of justice on the one nd? you've got a million victims. it cannot be done.

i said ife could make that a crime, and it is a crime against humanity. >> the trial ended in 1948 with guilty verdicts for the defendants. he continued to fight for justice and pushed to establish an international criminal court. that court became a reality in 1998 at a conference in rome. >> i began saying i have come to rome for those who cannot speak, the victims, and the only authority i have comes from my heart. it's only theeginning.

we have to set up a permanent court in future to deter any such crimes. >> the icc has been in operation in the hague since 2002. in just over two dozen cases, it has investigated possible war crimes and crimes against humanity. he has traveled to the hague several times to take part. >> i have come a long way in what i have seen happen at the international crimin court. it had its problems. serious problems. it should have more cooperation, not less. >> he says the secret to succeeding is simple -- >> never give up. phil: back to simon young in nuremberg. tell us more about the significance of these trials? simon: i think the nuremberg trials were hugely significant. as we said, they asserted the principle that states,

governments, and also the individual embers of those governmes could be and must be held accountable of crimes perpetrated inheir name. they familiarize the world with new criminal charges such as crimes against humanity and genocide these were really important principles that, as we said, led to the modern architecture of international criminal justice that we have had. the trials brought together divergent legal systems of the victorious allies -- the u.k., the u.s., france, and the soviet union,f course -- and that was a difficult thing to do. it also meant the proceedings had to be translated simultaneously into different languages. that is something we are familiar with today but was new back then. a t of the evidence was presented in film form, those horrific images of piles of corpses from the nazi

concentration camps, so ere was a lot of innovation that was important back then and has markedhe way forward to what we see today in terms of the international criminal court. phil: 75 years on, how does germany reflect on those trials today? simon: it's very interesting. the development of attitudes here in germany, initially, to some accent, the nuremberg trials began just months after the end of the second world war. people had not really got their heads around the fact that germany was defeated. many of the allegations about the holocaust, for instance, were still denied by many people , and the trials, for a while at least, were rejected as victor'' justice by germans, but i think they were a very important part of changing attitudes, laying the foundations for what was ultimately an attempt to deal

with the nazi past, even in the german court system, that began with the auschwitz trials in the 1960's. of course, today, when germans reflect on nuremberg, i think they are very encouraged to know that something of lasting value for the world became prominent in the form of the international criminal court, albeit that as president steinmeyer said, not every country in the world has signed up to that international process, not least, of course, theni uted states and russia are not members of the international criminal court, even though they stood firmly behind it and were indeed major proponents of the nuremberg trial process 75 years ago. phil: thank you. let's take a look now at some of the other stories making news around the world. south african police have clashed with antiracism

protesters in cape town. hundreds of members of a left-wing group for demonstrating near a school that had allegedly held an all white dance party in october. the president has called for an investigation, describing the clashes as deeply regrettable. the united nations has warned that yemen is in imminent danger of facing the world's worst famine for decades. the united nations says without immediate action, millions of lives could be lost. yemen has endured a five year war. a german development company and its u.s.--- its u.s. partner pfizer are seeking approval for development of its coronavirus vaccine. ifpprove it would be a major step in the fight against the pandemic. the u.s. government expects a decision to be made in

mid-december, much faster than the normal eight years. they say they could begin distribution within hours of approval. the founder of the health finance institute in washington, d.c. joins us now. what will the fda not do in a month that it normally takes eight weeks -- eight years to achieve? >> thank you so much for having me. indeed, this is really an historic development that we have a vaccine that is developed under such warp speed, as they call it. under this emergency application procedure, the -- there's basically a fast tracking of the efficacy review as well as the general approval process. we will have a look at the study data pfizer has and can produce

and also look at the supply chain and manufacturing processes, and if everything goes well, which everything is pointing towards that, we will have postmarketing efficacy studies. basically, phase four. looking at the long-term safety in the group that used the vaccine. phil: it is one thing to have the vaccine and another to get it approved and rolled out, but in a country where even the wearing of face coverings has been a contentious and political issue, i wonder -- is there likely to be resistance to a drug people might perceive as having been rushed through the system? >> absolutely. vaccine hesitancy is a trend that is not only just plaguing

the united states, but plaguing communities globally. the first to receive about 25 million doses of the vaccine will be essential health care rkers, teachers and essential workers, so i'm assuming this will be a population more inclined to believe in science and willing to use the vaccine. obviously, it is a tall order, but at the same time, one could also make the argument that those opposed to wearing masks would welcome a vaccine because it would mean they would not need to wear them anymore. phil: let's hope you are right. obviously, lots of money riding on this and lots of expectations as well. do manufacturers gear up to mass-produce in the expectation

that approval will come? >> i would probably say given that w have 95% efficacy in pfizer results, in moderna result, as well as astrazeca in phase two, everything is pointing towards positivity, and it will still take three quarters of a year to cover the population sufficiently. pfizer will also have a second dose of the vacce as needed. i like to think that 2020 has been hard enough. there's nothing to indicate that there will be a massive pump,

but we will have to see. phil: we will keep our fingers crossed. thank you for joining us. >> pleasure. phil: we week ago, a video of a man lying dead in a hospital bathroom sparked outrage in italy. the clinical in naples said the patient was being treated for a suspected coronavirus infection. we is enough to play that suspected cliff, but we will show you scenes of the hospital struggling to cope. the victim's father has been fighting against mismanagement in the health-care system, and that was before he himself died of covid-19. >> only a few days ago, she lost her father to covid-19. she says it is still too hard for her to look at this photo. and it is not only her who was morning, but her whole neighborhood in naples. francesco was well known here, a political activist who left his mark.

many here will remember him as a fighter for better health care. >> this fight became the symbol of his death. my father died because of mismanagement of the health care system. one kilometer behind his house, the hospital was partly closed. he fought for it to be operative again. if it had still been open, he would still be here. >> when he got sick, francesco had to wait for more than two weeks to be picked up by ambulance. at about the same time, this video filmed in the covid-19 ward of this hospital caused consternation in italy. the recent campaign here re mostly spared from the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic in spring, only to be hit even

harder by the second wave. this doctor works in another hospital in the region. out of fear for his job, he does not want to show his face. he says many adjunct doctors and nurses have to fill in. >> we cannot assist all people in the proper way, even if we try. we are also worried about being infected. our main issue is the lack of hospital beds and personnel. >> this dr. c's another problem -- italy has cut health care spending over the last decades. there are not enough family doctors. hospitals have been privatized. >> every emergency room is historically overwhelmed by too much work. family doctors are too busy to take care of covid-19 patients. >> italy itself and naples in

particular are economically far worse off than the rest of the country. mario admits local and regional authorities could have avoided the crisis if they had communicated better. >> probably if we had united our voices when we had requested more doctors, we would have gotten more and appeared more trustworthy. >> says it would put under lockdown far too late when her father got sick. she is sure her dad will be missed here. >> one of the reasons everybody loved him as a politician is because they actually saw him doing things. sometimes he himself fixed the halls in the street with cement. we still have bags of cement and tower at home and we don't know what to do with it.

>> she wants to take her father's case to court but does not want to blame a single person. it is the system itself she wants to be held accountable. >> azerbaijan's army says it has entered territory armenia is handing over as part of a peace deal. the agreement was brokered by russia and ended weeks of fighting in and around the disputed region of nagorno-karabakh. under its terms, armenian troops have until december 1 to withdraw. the fighting is officially over, but normal life is still a long way off. emily sherwin reports. >> is a joyful moment for some. reunited after weeks of fear. now that the fighting in nagorno-karabakh has ended, hundreds of refugees are returning to their homes every day. russian peacekeepers watch over

the process. but not everyone has a home to come back to. in this nearby city now under azeri control, to them, a recent peace deal is a betrayal. >> we don't know what we will do and where we will live. we came here because we have no other option. we don't have a home. >> i left everything behind. a two-bedroom apartment with everything in it, all done up and renovated. i did not even manage to take any clothing with me. my neighbors got some of my clothes. one of everything, and this is what i came here in. >> with a population of just over 50,000 people, this is the biggest city in

nagorno-karabakh, but authorities think they could soon be dealing with up to 25,000 refugees from nearby regions which are no longer under armenian control. >> i have had several hotels -- big hotels -- so people can live here for now while we start building more houses. people who have come from the regions i'll want to live here and we have to explain it is not big enough to provide to everyone. we have to send them to libyan villages in other areas. >> even for those who did not leave, there's a lot of rebuilding to do. traces of the recent war lurk around every corner. people have gotten used to living in the middle of a frozen conflict, but after the most recent fighting, even that normality seems far away. preparing for the return of his children and grandchildren who left during the fighting. the windows of his building got blown out in a bomb blast.

for now, plastic sheets will have to do instead. the 65-year-old says he and his for around three weeks. many still remember the fierce fighting of the 1990's. >> before, there was machine-gun fire back-and-forth. this time it was really scary weapons. we have to start over now. we don't have anything. we don't have work even. but we are going to do our best to live well. >> even with destruction everywhere, most people say leaving it is not an option. even if nagorno-karabakh has just gotten smaller, it will always be there homeland. phil: a hong kong activist has told dw that chinese efforts to suppress the territory's pro-democracy movement will not succeed. he goes on trial next week to face charges of unlawful

assembly, wearing a mask during demonstrations last year. he has been repeatedly detained and could be sentenced to several years in prison if found guilty. dw spoke with him and ask how he is preparing for next week's trial. >> it's not sy to handle the pressure. now i'm facing six charges within three court cases. perhs the time for them to jail me might come soon, but no matter what happened, to defy the greatest human rights abuser is to -- is essential for our generation, so in the future, it is still a key part of the fight . we just have to let the wor know that even the prison bars,

it is important to let the world know the fight for freedom has not ended yet. phil: we will have coverage of his trial which begins monday. that is it. you are up-to-date. i will be back in a moment to lead you through "the deck." you can get the latest news and information on our website, dw.com. you can also follow us on instagram and twitter. have a good day.

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>> you are watching france 24 live from paris. the stories making world headlines. out of jail the ugandan presidential candidate and popstar bobby ryan released on bail. his arrest triggered two days of protests that led dozens of people dead. civil war and in a humanitarian crisis, if european toots -- troops take control of two it -- tigrean towns. 200,000 refugees are expected to flee into sedan. summa in saudi arabia, g20 country set to meet starting tomorrow, to