A 63-year-old suspected Nazi war criminal was arrested Friday on an extradition request from Israel, the first time the federal government has arrested such a suspect for extradition to Israel, according to the Justice Department.
John Demjanjuk, a retired auto worker, reportedly called “Ivan the Terrible” for his behavior as a guard at the Treblinka death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland, and a native of Ukraine, had his United States citizenship revoked in 1981. Federal District Judge Frank Battisti ruled Demjanjuk had lied on his immigration documents to conceal his Nazi past, a decision upheld by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court refused to hear the case.
FORMAL REQUEST BY ISRAEL
The local office of Immigration and Naturalization reported Demjanjuk was arrested at his home and, at a brief hearing, U.S. Magistrate David Perlman said he would release Demjanjuk over the weekend on his own recognizance. Perlman also ruled that if the suspect wanted to remain out of jail, he would have to post a $50,000 bond tomorrow by handing over the deed to his $60,000 home. Perlman set a January 23 hearing date.
The formal request by Israel for Demjanjuk’s extradition was made last week so that Demjanjuk could be tried in Israel on charges of having committed war crimes as part of Nazi Germany’s announced plan to exterminate the Jewish people. The Justice Department said Demjanjuk had been arrested in compliance with the Israel-United States extradition treaty.
The Justice Department filed deportation proceedings in Cleveland against Demjanjuk, who has maintained he was a Soviet soldier captured by the German army in 1942 and held prisoner until the end of the war, after the court rulings.
The Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations, set up to deal with cases of suspected Nazi war criminals residing in this country, said the deportation proceedings would be delayed pending the outcome of the extradition action.
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