Demjanjuk in German prison for Nazi guard charges

MUNICH (AP) — After three decades of fighting in court, John Demjanjuk was incarcerated today in a German prison, deported from the United States to face allegations of being an accessory to the murder of 29,000 Jews and others as a Nazi guard at the Sobibor death camp.

A judge read him the 21-page arrest warrant in German as it was translated into Ukrainian for Demjanjuk. His lawyer, Guenther Maull, filed a challenge against the warrant, arguing the evidence was not solid and Germany’s jurisdiction was questionable.

Maull said the warrant was read to Demjanjuk as he was sitting in a wheelchair, receiving oxygen through a nasal tube.

“He understood what was being read to him,” Maull said.

The challenge was filed after the retired Ohio autoworker was formally placed into investigative custody in Germany.

If Demjanjuk is found fit to stand trial, it would be the culmination of a legal saga that began in 1977 and has involved courts and government officials from at least five countries on three continents.