German court finds former Nazi guard guilty of 27,900 deaths
May 12th, 2011 - 10:07 pm ICT by IANSMunich, May 12 (IANS/RIA Novosti) A court in Munich Thursday found 91-year-old Ukraine-born Ivan Demjanjuk guilty of helping to kill at least 27,900 Jews at a Nazi extermination camp in 1943.
Demjanjuk was drafted into the Soviet army in 1940 and was serving in eastern Crimea in 1942 when he was captured by the Germans. He was then inducted as a guard at the Sobibor concentration camp in occupied Poland.
Prosecutors said Demjanjuk was involved in the murders of at least 27,900 Jews at the camp between March and September 1943.
After the war, Demjanjuk lived in southern Germany, working as a driver. In 1952, he migrated with his family to the US, where he worked as an engine mechanic at a car plant.
Demjanjuk was deported from the US to Israel in 1986 to face allegations that he had served as a camp guard nicknamed “Ivan the Terrible” at the Treblinka death camp. However, this accusation could not be proven.
The Munich trial began in November 2009. Demjanjuk attended the 18-month court proceedings in a wheelchair and sometimes lying down, with his family trying to argue that he was too infirm to stand trial.
The court Thursday sentenced him to five years in prison.
His lawyers said they would appeal the verdict.
–IANS/RIA Novosti
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Tags: accusation, allegations, car plant, court proceedings, crimea, dg, engine mechanic, german court, germans, jews, munich, murders, nazi extermination camp, nazi guard, prosecutors, ria novosti, sobibor concentration camp, southern germany, soviet army, treblinka death camp