EQUIPO NIZKOR |
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01may09
Appellate court rejects John Demjanjuk's appeal to stop deportation.
A federal appeals court today rejected John Demjanjuk's claims that being deported to Germany would amount to torture.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati denied the reprieve that has kept the 89-year-old Demjanjuk in his home in Seven Hills. The decision means Demjanjuk could be sent to Germany, though it is expected that his family will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to keep him in Ohio.
His family has claimed that he is too ill and feeble to take the plane ride to Munich and stand trial there, a move they say would amount to torture under international human rights law.
In March, Germany accused Demjanjuk in an arrest warrant of helping to kill 29,000 people at the Sobibor death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland in 1943.
On April 14, federal agents took Demjanjuk into custody with the plan of deporting him, only to have the appellate court grant a last-minute reprieve.
"At most, [Demjanjuk] has offered speculation that German authorities may not adequately attend to his medical needs while he is in that country's custody,'' the court wrote in an order this morning.
[Source: By John Caniglia from Cincinnati, The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, USA, 01May09]
 | This document has been published on 11May09 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. |