Alleged Nazi guard requests suspension of trial to investigate declassified FBI report

Thu Apr 14, 2011

The Jurist

The lawyer for alleged Nazi concentration camp guard John Demjanjuk [NNDB profile, JURIST news archive] requested Wednesday that Demjanjuk's trial for accomplice to murder be suspended in order to investigate an Associated Press report [text] stating that a recently declassified FBI field questions the authenticity of key evidence used in the prosecution.

Ulrich Busch, Demjanjuk's lawyer, requested the suspension [Der Spiegel report, in German] to investigate the material being held at the National Archives in Maryland [officially website].

The report claims that the KGB "quite likely fabricated" evidence central to Demjanjuk's prosecution, specifically the Nazi ID card [ID card image] he allegedly used as a guard at the Sobibor death camp.

Demjanjuk, who denies the allegations, currently faces a six-year sentence [JURIST report] if convicted. A verdict was expected within a month, but any grant of a delay may change that schedule.

[full story]

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