A court in the German city of Munich on Wednesday postponed the war crimes trial of John Demjanjuk, a Nazi prison guard accused of participating in the murder of thousands of Jews at a death camp in Poland during World War II, after doctors certified that the defendant was too ill to attend court proceedings.
Judge Ralph Alt told the Munich court that the trial of Demjanjuk was adorned until 21st December, stating that the delay was caused by doctors' advise against sending Demjanjuk to court after the 89-year-old defendant showed signs of infection and a slight temperature.
Demjanjuk, who was extradited from the United States to Germany in May to face war crime charges, was charged in July with 27,900 counts of being accessory to murder during World War II. He faces a 15-year sentence if convicted of the charges.
His trial began on Monday, but Demjanjuk has not yet spoken during court proceedings. He attended the first two days of hearings, lying on a hospital bed with his eyes closed or staring blankly. His lawyer has said that Demjanjuk is exercising his right to remain silent and would make no comment.
During Tuesday's hearing, the prosecution alleged that Demjanjuk played an active role in "all major stages of the extermination process" of some 27,900 Jews at the Sobibor concentration camp in Poland during World War II.
Prosecutor Hans-Joachim Lutz told the court on Tuesday that Demjanjuk helped in unloading thousands of Jews arriving at the camp in trains, undressed and herded them to the gas chambers. Describing the events, Lutz said that some 80 Jews were packed into each of the 172 square-feet sized chambers at a time, before being suffocated to death by exhaust fumes.
Prior to the prosecution statement, Demjanjuk's lawyer Ulrich Busch asked the court to abandon his client's trial over health reasons, pointing out that Demjanjuk was forcibly deported from the US in spite of his terminal illness. Busch reminded the court that his client, who was earlier cleared by an Israeli court of charges that he was a guard at another Nazi death camp, was being tried for the same crimes twice.
Demjanjuk's extradition from the United States in May came after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal seeking to block his deportation to face war crime charges in Germany. The court rejected arguments by his lawyers that the 89-year-old Ohio resident was too ill to be transported to Germany.
In October, the Munich State court authorized Demjanjuk's trial to proceed and ordered him into custody. Demjanjuk's lawyers said in October that the Munich court has set aside 35 trial days for the case, extending from 30th November to May 2010.
Earlier, German doctors had certified that 89-year-old Demjanjuk was mentally and physically fit enough to attend a trial for two sessions extending up to 90 minutes each per day.
German prosecutors allege that Demjanjuk had worked as a low-ranking foreign-born SS guard at Sobibor camp when thousands of Jews were being killed in the gas chambers there. Demjanjuk, however, has denied the accusations and maintains that he was being held a prisoner at the camp after being captured by German forces in his native Ukraine while fighting for the Red Army.
Demjanjuk's trial follows the issue of a warrant for his arrest by the Munich state court in March after German prosecutors charged him with more than 27,900 counts of being accessory to murder, at the Sobibor camp, now in Poland.
His case was brought back after investigators in Munich found fresh evidence of his involvement in the killing of thousands of Jews at the Sobibor death camp in 1943. Investigators say they have managed "to obtain hundreds of documents," including an SS personnel card in Demjanjuk's name, and have also found a number of witnesses "who spoke out against Demjanjuk."
Ukraine-born Demjanjuk migrated to the U.S. in 1952 after World War II. He was extradited to Israel and sentenced to death there in the 1980s, but was later acquitted and returned to the United States.
Soon after his return to United States, authorities accused Demjanjuk of lying on his immigration application about working for the Nazis. Eventually, Demjanjuk lost his U.S. citizenship in 2008 after a long legal battle with the U.S. authorities over the issue.
by RTTNews Staff Writer
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