JERUSALEM (JTA) — Convicted Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk was declared fit to stand trial in Germany.
State prosecutors in Munich announced the decision of the medical examiners on Friday, saying the only restriction is that court appearances be limited to two 90-minute sessions per day.
Demjanjuk, who was stripped of his U.S. citizenship for lying about his Nazi past in order to enter the country, was deported in May from Cleveland to Germany, where he is being held in jail. He likely will stand trial for war crimes committed during World War II. His trial could be one of the last such cases stemming from the Nazi era.
The case is set to come before the court later this month. Some speculate that a trial could start in the fall.
In March, Munich prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Demjanjuk, accusing him of serving as a guard at the Sobibor extermination camp in Poland in 1943 and being involved in the murder of at least 29,000 Jews.
Demjanjuk, who contests the charges, has lived since 1952 in suburban Cleveland. His later years have been spent fighting accusations of involvement in wartime crimes against humanity.
In the early 1980s, he was accused of being the notorious guard "Ivan the Terrible" at the Treblinka death camp, but was released from jail in Israel after seven years when another Ukrainian was identified as "Ivan."
The U.S. Justice Department charged Demjanjuk with being a guard at Sobibor and revoked his citizenship in 2002. His deportation was approved in 2005. Germany requested his extradition in March.
Demjanjuk fought the deportation to Germany, finally losing an appeal in the U.S. Supreme Court. His lawyers said he was too ill to make the trip and withstand trial.
