The Supreme Court extended last Friday the detention of John Demjanjuk, the Ukrcinian-born American autoworker accused of operating the gas chambers at the Treblinka death camp, until October I.
Demjanjuk, who claims he isn’t the alleged war criminal “I van the Terrible,” is being held at Ramla prison, where last week’s hearing took place.
In again granting an extension, Justice Yaacov Meltz expressed the hope that Israeli Justice Ministry officials would present an indictment by October I, because the court “will find it difficult to extend the remand further.”
A prosecutor replied that he hoped to, but refrained from making a commitment. In the request to extend the remand, Attorney General Yosef Harish claimed that the investigation was “long and complicated” and that the prosecution has been unable to gather all the necessary material. A Treblinka identity card of “Ivan the Terrible” is said to be in Soviet hands.
Demjanjuk has been in jail since Feb. 28, the day he was extradited to Israel.
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