An urgent appeal for defense funds for John Demjanjuk, on trial in Jerusalem for war crimes allegedly committed in the Treblinka death camp, has been issued by his son-in-law, Edward Nishnic.
Nishnic, president and administrator of the John Demjanjuk Defense Fund in Brooklyn, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, sent a letter addressed to “Fellow Ukrainians and Friends” asking that they “act with Christian conscience” in giving financial support needed in “the tragic case of John Demjanjuk.” Following Demjanjuk’s acquittal, writes Nishnic, they can then “turn our attention to those responsible for John Demjanjuk’s decade of suffering.”
Nishnic refers to the Ukrainian community as the “Ukrainian diaspora.” He writes that the Demjanjuk case has continued for 10 years “without any financial assistance from the governments which accused him of “war crimes.”
The trial of Demjanjuk, accused of being “Ivan the Terrible,” has been in recess for a month and is scheduled to resume following the Jewish holidays with witnesses for the defense.
With less than $6,000 reportedly remaining in the fund’s coffers, Demjanjuk’s supporters fear they will be unable to present all their witnesses at the trial, Nishnic writes. His accounting of the trial expenses to date comes to $250,000.
Nishnic’s appeal comes, he writes, out of “sheer desperation and frustration” in the search for funding, which has till now consisted of donations from individuals’ life savings, wages, “and most of all, by individual Ukrainians, organizations, and churches world-wide.” Nishnic says that with additional financial assistance, and “our new legal defense team, I believe that John Demjanjuk will be found innocent.” Demjanjuk has engaged for the defense a Canadian Ukrainian-speaking attorney, Paul Chumak of Toronto, who has served as public prosecutor for the province of Ontario. He will join the Israeli defense team of Yoram Sheftel and John Gill.
Nishnic concludes his appeal with “May the good Lord bless you and your loved ones.”
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