Accused Nazi killer Demjanjuk's medical results set for release
Medical test results concerning alleged Nazi-criminal John Demjanjuk’s ability to stand trial are expected to be released this week.
“We assume he is at least up for discussion,” senior prosecutor Anton Winkler told German magazine Focus on Monday.
The district attorney’s office in Munich is hoping to indict the 89-year-old, who is accused of aiding in the murder of at least 29,000 Jews.
As a guard in Sobibor in 1943, a Nazi German extermination camp in occupied Poland, Demjanjuk would have led Jews into the gas chamber. Demjanjuk has been jailed in Munich since his deportation from the US eight weeks ago.
“Of course, we have prepared the accusation in essential parts. But we await the medical results and the current statements of the defence,” Winkler told the magazine.
Presently, an appellate court is testing another appeal made by Demjanjuk’s lawyers, who were staunchly rejected on their first attempt.
A native Ukrainian, Demjanjuk had declared Sobibor as his permanent residence on official immigration documents before entering the US. Authorities probably would have overlooked this detail, because the extermination camp would have been then unknown. Later on, Demjanjuk alleged that he had never been in Sobibor.
“He must, of course, be confronted,” Winkler said.
The main evidence for the prosecution is an ID card with the number 1393 apparently belonging to Demjanjuk, showing that he participated in the Schutzstaffel, a major Nazi organization under Adolf Hitler. They also have a relocation list from March 1943, showing that Demjanjuk was transferred to Sobibor.
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“We assume he is at least up for discussion,” senior prosecutor Anton Winkler told German magazine Focus on Monday.
The district attorney’s office in Munich is hoping to indict the 89-year-old, who is accused of aiding in the murder of at least 29,000 Jews.
As a guard in Sobibor in 1943, a Nazi German extermination camp in occupied Poland, Demjanjuk would have led Jews into the gas chamber. Demjanjuk has been jailed in Munich since his deportation from the US eight weeks ago.
“Of course, we have prepared the accusation in essential parts. But we await the medical results and the current statements of the defence,” Winkler told the magazine.
Presently, an appellate court is testing another appeal made by Demjanjuk’s lawyers, who were staunchly rejected on their first attempt.
A native Ukrainian, Demjanjuk had declared Sobibor as his permanent residence on official immigration documents before entering the US. Authorities probably would have overlooked this detail, because the extermination camp would have been then unknown. Later on, Demjanjuk alleged that he had never been in Sobibor.
“He must, of course, be confronted,” Winkler said.
The main evidence for the prosecution is an ID card with the number 1393 apparently belonging to Demjanjuk, showing that he participated in the Schutzstaffel, a major Nazi organization under Adolf Hitler. They also have a relocation list from March 1943, showing that Demjanjuk was transferred to Sobibor.
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