Demjanjuk stripped of US citizenship

Jerusalem Post ^ | Dec. 11, 2003 | ASSOCIATED PRESS

[yonif]

A judge stripped suspected former Nazi death-camp guard John Demjanjuk of his US citizenship without hearing evidence that could clear his name, the man's lawyer argued Wednesday.

Demjanjuk could face deportation if US District Judge Paul Matia's 2002 order stripping his citizenship stands. The retired Cleveland autoworker has been fighting such charges since 1977.

Defense attorney John H. Broadley told the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals that the government did not present entire documents, only the bits and pieces that supported its case.

Broadley pointed to the government's refusal to analyze a signature that belonged to a Nazi guard who prosecutors say is Demjanjuk.

Justice Department lawyer Jonathan Drimmer said the record clearly shows that Demjanjuk was a Nazi guard. "The government's record is more than complete to identify Demjanjuk on seven wartime documents," he said.

Demjanjuk, 83, says he was a prisoner of war during World War II.

His lawyers said he may have been confused with a cousin from the same Ukrainian village who also was named Ivan Demjanjuk.

Demjanjuk formerly lost his US citizenship in 1981 and was convicted in Israel of being the sadistic Nazi guard "Ivan the Terrible" in Poland. That conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court and he returned to the United States.

The latest case involves new charges filed by the Justice Department.

[alisasny]

Is he a private citizen today or in a federal jail?

[68skylark]

This has been going on 25 years. If he's guilty, that's 25 years of freedom he shouldn't have been enjoying. If he's innocent, it's 25 years of undeserved torment from the legal system. I guess this isn't going to end until he dies.

[Ladytotheright]

I live near the poor fellow---even Israel found him INNOCENT. He will be murdered mif deported. Russia even admitted it was BS and made up the stuff they said they had on him.

[petitfour]

I'm confused. I vaguely recall this case from years ago. Did the US Supreme Court reverse an earlier decision and give the guy his citizenship back, or did the Israeli Supreme Court reverse his conviction?

[Ladytotheright]

He was tried in Israel and found innocent Sent back to USA---He is an anti-Communist and the liberals can't stand it!!!!

[ikka]

He should stop fighting extradition, then go to Mexico and walk back. He will then be an "undocumented immigrant" and all will be forgiven.

Hey, that's what they do with Mexicans now, isn't it?

[Revolting cat!]

Good thing that the Gulag guards are now respectable businessmen and politicians!

[joesbucks]

Liberals? It was the Reagan justice department that was his tormentor.

[petitfour]

To whence shall they deport him? He's 83 years old. What is the evidence that caused him to have his citizenship stripped?

[Lurking Libertarian]

He was tried in Israel and found innocent Sent back to USA---He is an anti-Communist and the liberals can't stand it!!!!

The Israeli Supreme Court found him not guilty of the specific charges against him-- being "Ivan the Terrible"-- but found that he nonetheless had been a concentration camp guard. Simply having been a guard in a concentration camp, and having lied about it when he entered the U.S., is enough under U.S. law to revoke his citizenship, though it is not enough to convict him of war crimes under israeli law.

[Ladytotheright]

It started out under Carter to send him to Israel--Reagan's justice dept just carried out to exped. He was found not guilty at the trial and was allowed back. Some have now been fighting to have his citizenship revoked---I think

[Ladytotheright]

Why can't they leave "well enough alone" The guy has been living under the gun for a long time. He is no threat to anyone. If the charges are true---he will soon meet his Maker.

[Ladytotheright]

You are right about the Supreme court in Israel. I had forgotten that.

[Western Phil]

There used to be lots of information on the Internet on this case and the impression I got when I studied it was that he was another Ukranian being done in by the Soviets. The theory has always seemed to be that he was Ivan the Terrible, but if he wasn't he still needed to be deported for being accused of it. Its been a while since I looked at the information posted posted by the Canadian Ukranians, but it appears that the evidence against him was make up.

[sinkspur]

He is no threat to anyone.

If, indeed (as the Israeli Supreme Court found) he WAS a concentration camp guard, how many Jews did he kill?

Lots of guys on death row aren't a threat to anybody, any more, either.

[July 4th]

In the Milwaukee area, the feds still dig up a Nazi prison guard every once in a while. (Lots of Germans here). The guys are usually in their 80's or 90's, but they get busted and shipped out.

[Western Phil]

I believe there is a department in the government whose job it is to deport Nazis. To meet their performance standards they have to find or make new ones. Old people who don't understand the legal system are good prospects.

[joesbucks]

Even after the trial in Israel, Reagan and then Bush kept on this guy. It may have began under Carter, but the heat was kept on by the pubbies.

[Verginius Rufus]

The real "Ivan the Terrible" was probably killed before the end of World War II. Demjanjuk had the misfortune to resemble him and was very nearly put to death before the Israeli justice system recognized that he wasn't the right guy. One piece of evidence against him was apparently fabricated by the KGB. Whether he is completely innocent, I don't know (if he was a concentration camp guard, was the alternative being shot by the Nazis?). At least if he is deported to Ukraine now, he might not be shot by the authorities there, as he might have been when the saga started.

Patrick Buchanan took up this guy's case, which was part of the reason Buchanan was accused of anti-Semitism (not the whole reason). When Buchanan ran for President the first time in 1996 he got something like 8,000 votes in Palm Beach County from Ukrainian immigrants there...so it is possible the votes he got there in 2000 were really for him and not mistakenly cast by confused Gore voters. (At least I think it was Palm Beach Co.--maybe it was Broward Co.)