BERLIN (AP) — A former Auschwitz death camp guard has submitted a fresh request for clemency in a bid to avoid serving his sentence for accessory to murder.

German news agency dpa reported Thursday that officials say former SS sergeant Oskar Groening has asked Lower Saxony's justice minister to spare him from going to prison.

A previous clemency request filed to prosecutors was rejected in January.

The 96-year-old was convicted in Lueneburg in 2015 as an accessory to the murder of 300,000 Jews and sentenced to four years in prison. He hasn't yet spent any time behind bars because of the appeals process. His lawyer says Groening is too frail to go to prison.

Germany's highest court rejected his last legal appeal in December.