Mr Gently Benevolent
06-27-2008, 03:55 AM
Germans To Put Ivan The Terrible On Deaths TrialJun 20 2008 By Allan Hall
Extradition For Evil Guard
PROSECUTORS in Germany have taken the first steps to extradite the man known as Ivan the Terrible from the US.
They want 88-year-old John Demjanjuk to stand trial for his alleged wartime role herding prisoners into gas chambers in Poland.
Demjanjuk is said to have beaten, whipped and sliced off the breasts of naked victims as they ran to their deaths at the Treblinka camp, near Warsaw.
The Ukrainian was sentenced to death by an Israeli court in 1988 but freed after his conviction was overturned five years later.
Now Demjanjuk - second on a list of most-wanted Nazi war criminals - could face another trial in Germany.
Kurt Schrimm, Germany's chief Nazi prosecutor, said: "We believe he could be convicted by German criminal law."
The Ludwigsburg-based Central Office for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes, which Schrimm heads, is in the process of applying to Germany's federal court of justice to have Demjanjuk extraditated from the US.
Germany's highest criminal court will then decide if the case can be tried. According to Schrimm, the chances of German prosecutors succeeding in bringing Demjankuk to court are "good".
Schrimm said prosecutors could make use of an exception in German law.
Normally the justice system can only prosecute someone if the criminal is German or the crime was committed in the country.
But in this case, Schrimm said, "a large number of the victims came from Germany and Demjanjuk was acting on German orders".
If Demjankuk is brought to justice in Germany, it could have far-reaching consequences for the prosecution of other Nazi war criminals. Schrimm said: "There are many other people who, like Demjanjuk, don't come from Germany but who could be held accountable under German law."
Demjanjuk emigrated to the US in 1952.How much money and political pressure has been exercised in this pursuit, Israel has a fair legal system and overturned his conviction so maybe its time to call it a day.
Extradition For Evil Guard
PROSECUTORS in Germany have taken the first steps to extradite the man known as Ivan the Terrible from the US.
They want 88-year-old John Demjanjuk to stand trial for his alleged wartime role herding prisoners into gas chambers in Poland.
Demjanjuk is said to have beaten, whipped and sliced off the breasts of naked victims as they ran to their deaths at the Treblinka camp, near Warsaw.
The Ukrainian was sentenced to death by an Israeli court in 1988 but freed after his conviction was overturned five years later.
Now Demjanjuk - second on a list of most-wanted Nazi war criminals - could face another trial in Germany.
Kurt Schrimm, Germany's chief Nazi prosecutor, said: "We believe he could be convicted by German criminal law."
The Ludwigsburg-based Central Office for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes, which Schrimm heads, is in the process of applying to Germany's federal court of justice to have Demjanjuk extraditated from the US.
Germany's highest criminal court will then decide if the case can be tried. According to Schrimm, the chances of German prosecutors succeeding in bringing Demjankuk to court are "good".
Schrimm said prosecutors could make use of an exception in German law.
Normally the justice system can only prosecute someone if the criminal is German or the crime was committed in the country.
But in this case, Schrimm said, "a large number of the victims came from Germany and Demjanjuk was acting on German orders".
If Demjankuk is brought to justice in Germany, it could have far-reaching consequences for the prosecution of other Nazi war criminals. Schrimm said: "There are many other people who, like Demjanjuk, don't come from Germany but who could be held accountable under German law."
Demjanjuk emigrated to the US in 1952.How much money and political pressure has been exercised in this pursuit, Israel has a fair legal system and overturned his conviction so maybe its time to call it a day.