Germany seeks Demjanjuk’s extradition

By · June 19, 2008

Germany is seeking the extradition of Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk to stand trial.

The Germans want to prosecute Demjanuk, 88, of suburban Cleveland, on charges that he participated in the killing of Jewish prisoners at the Sobibor extermination camp. German authorities said he could be brought to Germany by the end of the year.

In May, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal of a deportation order issued in 2005, paving the way for a possible extradition.

Demjanjuk, a retired autoworker, is No. 2 on the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s list of most wanted Nazi war criminals.

The Israeli Supreme Court revoked his death sentence in 1988 when questions were raised about his identity as the notorious “Ivan the Terrible.”

The news that Demjanjuk might face deportation came the same week as the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals upheld a deportation order for another alleged war criminal, Josias Kumpf of Wisconsin. The Office of Special Investigations and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin revoked Kumpf’s citizenship in 2003. They are seeking to deport him to Germany, Austria or Serbia.

Meanwhile, an alleged Nazi war criminal living in Austria was spotted recently among fans of a soccer game in the city of Klagenfurt. Milivoj Asner, 95, a Croatia native, had avoided standing trial because of a diagnosis of dementia. He is alleged to have coordinated the deportation of Jews and Gypsies to a fascist camp in occupied Croatia.

Asner has told reporters that he would welcome the chance to clear his name in court. Asner is No. 4 on the Wiesenthal Center’s most wanted list. The center contests Asner’s claim of exemption from standing trial.