Demjanjuk returns to home after deportation halted

[MissHoneychurch]

CLEVELAND – A plane was waiting nearby to fly alleged Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk to Germany to face an arrest warrant and a possible war crimes trial.

But the frail 89-year-old retired autoworker won a late reprieve from an appeals court Tuesday, and with it, another chance to argue that his deportation would amount to torture, given his medical condition.

...

"We're prepared to make our arguments with the 6th Circuit, and it's just a shame that Mr. Demjanjuk had to go through the hell that he went through once again this morning," Nishnic said.

Demjanjuk was released from custody later Tuesday, and family members returned him to his home in Seven Hills, where the day's events had begun. Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney said the government will continue its legal battle in court.

An arrest warrant in Germany claims Demjanjuk was an accessory to some 29,000 deaths during World War II at the Sobibor camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. Once in Germany, he could be formally charged in court.

...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090415/ap_on_re_us/demjanjuk

------------------------

Demjanjuk's is going through hell???? What about the people who died in Sobibor under his watch???? People like Demjanjuk need to be brought to justice, no matter how old they are. My opinion.

[newfie11]

1. "his deportation would amount to torture"

SO!!!!!

Yes he needs to be deported to Germany and stand trial.

[MissHoneychurch]

2. That is the most outrageous sentence

it leaves me speechless.
This man lived his full life without being called out for his actions (except the trial in Israel in the 1980s). He could at least have that much honor to stand to his actions now.
And how is it possible that he is still in the U.S. even though his citizenship has been denied? And he is now stateless?

[Hubert Flottz]

6. "how is it possible that he is still in the U.S."

Well, it's US policy that we don't look back anymore at stuff like torture and war crimes and spying on your neighbors.

[seemslikeadream]

13. and then there is that little Operation Paperclip thing

[blueraven95]

3. wow. This makes me so mad, I can't believe it.

This man has had the opportunity to live out his whole life without real consequences for his actions...

I think the most accurate quote in the article is this:

"Deborah Dwork, a professor of holocaust history at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., said the Demjanjuk case illustrates that there is no statute of limitations on the crime of genocide.

"The issue is holding him accountable, no matter what his age," she said."

In Judaism, there is a concept that if you save a life, you save the world (because you are not just saving that one person, but all of his descendants (and all of their accomplishments) - and the reverse is also true. The thing that really gets me is, if the accusations are accurate (which they appear to be), then this guy is responsible for thousands of deaths, destroying the world thousands of times over, and yet, he's been able to have a family - have descendants. I know this is a bit petty, but how dare he?

[MissHoneychurch]

4. It makes me mad too

I feel exactly how you describe it.

It is a lot in the news here in Germany. And I think that is a good thing.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Vickers]

5. "the hell that he went through"

Holy fucking shit.

[MissHoneychurch]

7. You take the words out of my mouth

holy fucking shit, how can they be so bold.

[Zywiec]

8. Charged and released by the Israelis in the '80's / '90's

Of course we know how easy the Israelis are when it comes to Nazi criminals.

:sarcasm:

[blueraven95]

9. I'm not sure I know what you mean

there could have been all sorts of reasons why he would have a conviction overturned while still being guilty - and the article gives no explanation. Regardless, he should be tried, and found either innocent or guilty, in Germany, where the crimes were committed.

[Zywiec]

10. Here's the reason

On July 29, 1993, five Israeli Supreme Court judges overturned the guilty verdict on appeal. Their ruling was based partly on the written statements of former guards at Treblinka that Ivan the Terrible's true surname was Marchenko, not Demjanjuk. The former guards' statements were obtained after World War II by the Soviets, who prosecuted Ukrainians who assisted the Nazis as auxiliary forces during the War.

[MissHoneychurch]

11. But the court found him guilty

On April 18, 1988, the court found Demjanjuk guilty of all charges. One week later it sentenced him to death by hanging.

And

The court judgment also addressed evidence against Demjanjuk that was not included in his indictment. It considered that Demjanjuk most likely served as a Nazi Wachmann (guard) in the Trawniki unit and had been posted at Sobibor and two other camps. Evidence to assist this claim included a certificate from Trawniki bearing Demjanjuk's picture and his exact personal information<11> - allegedly found in the Soviet archives - in addition to German documents that mentioned Wachmann Demjanjuk and mentioned his date and place of birth. Statements of another Wachmann (Denilchenko), both in 1949 and again in 1979, identified Demjanjuk as the Wachmann who served with him at Sobibor. Demjanjuk's Trawniki certificate also implies that he served at Sobibor, as do the German orders of March 1943 posting the Trawniki unit to this area.

[blueraven95]

12. on further reading

the Israeli Supreme Court overturned the ruling, because evidence had come forward introducing reasonable doubt that he may not have actually been Ivan the Terrible, but it does appear that there is fairly conclusive evidence that he was involved with Nazi movement. The Israeli court did not try him on the additional charges because, among other reasons, a lack of jurisdiction - but this does not mean that he was found not guilty of those charges.

I believe that we should believe in innocence before guilt, but I also think that when there has been a substantial amount of evidence brought forward, than that person should stand trial, as this person should.

[IndianaGreen]

14. That poor old man screaming in pain as the evil ICE agents removed him and his wheelchair

That poor old man screaming in pain as the evil ICE agents removed him and his wheelchair from his home. I saw the entire sad episode on a CNN live feed. How sad.... NOT!

This human filth may have not been Ivan the Terrible, as those due process loving people in Israel found, but he certainly was a SS guard at Sobibor. This is not a charge brought by Israel or by the Wiesenthal Center, but by the Federal Republic of Germany. Prosecutors in Germany have painstakingly build a case against Ivan Demjanjuk and they have enough evidence to bring him to trial.

The only issue involving Demjanjuk's troubles with ICE is that the sob lied about his past when he came to the United States. This shit has dragged long enough, and it is long overdue that this criminal faces justice. Demjanjuk's victims didn't get to live a full life and get a pension from a major American auto manufacturer.

Off with his head!