John Demjanjuk, alleged former guard at the Treblinka death camp notorious for his brutality, was remanded in custody for an additional 13 days Sunday as the examination of evidence against him continued.
Police Prosecutor Alex lsh-Shalom said Sunday that considerable amounts of new evidence have been gathered since Demjanjuk was extradited to Israel by the U.S. two weeks ago. He said 12 Treblinka survivors have positively identified the Ukrainian-born former American citizen from Cleveland, Ohio, from photographs as the guard known as “Ivan the Terrible” because of his brutal treatment of inmates.
Judge Aharon Simcha, President of the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court which arraigned Demjanjuk on his arrival in Israel, travelled to Ayalon prison near Ramla where a courtroom was set up to hear new evidence. He said the evidence will be used to prepare the formal charges on which Demjanjuk will be tried for war crimes.
Demjanjuk had no comments. But, speaking in Ukrainian through an interpreter, he asked that he be allowed to telephone his family in the U.S. “After all, I am not being held in the Soviet Union,” he said. Judge Simcha ruled that a telephone call would be up to the prison authorities. The prisoner is allowed to correspond with his family and will be allowed to talk to them by telephone when they come to Israel, the judge said.
Simcha visited the isolation cell where Demjanjuk is confined and said he found his quarters and his condition satisfactory. He and the prisoner conversed briefly in English. Demjanjuk insists he is a victim of mistaken identity and never was in Treblinka.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
