Way cleared for Nazi suspect’s deportation
(CNN) — Accused Nazi guard John Demjanjuk on Friday was cleared for deportation when a federal appeals court refused to halt his transfer to Germany.
Demjanjuk’s health was at the center of his attorney’s request to prevent the deportation, which was heard by a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Demjanjuk, 89, is wanted by German authorities for his alleged involvement during World War II in killings at Sobibor, a Nazi death camp in Poland.
The appeals court originally granted an emergency stay April 14, less than two hours after federal immigration officials took Demjanjuk into custody at his home near Cleveland, Ohio.
The court approved the temporary stay after a federal immigration board rejected an emergency appeal for Demjanjuk’s deportation. His attorney, John Broadley, had argued that deporting him would constitute torture because of his health problems.
Broadley has said Demjanjuk suffers from pre-leukemia, kidney problems, spinal problems and “a couple of types of gout.”
The deportation of Demjanjuk, who was transported to an Ohio detention facility when the stay was issued, is expected to set the stage for an extraordinary German war crimes trial.
The case represents one of the longest-running pursuits of an alleged Holocaust perpetrator in history.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/05/01/us.nazi.suspect/index.html
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