The prosecution in the case of accused war criminal John Demjanjuk won approval Thursday to seek permission from the authorities in Belgium and West Germany to question residents who may have evidence pertinent to the trial.
The three-judge panel agreed to the prosecution’s request as the trial of the Ukrainian-born former American citizen ended its fourth week in Jerusalem district court. The State Prosecutor’s office is expected to send officials to Belgium and West Germany in the near future, but procedures for such a move remain to be established.
Legal circles said the questioning of witnesses abroad might be carried out by a team of prosecution and defense lawyers. The court rejected a defense motion to read into the record evidence submitted to an American court in the 1978 denaturalization trial of Ukrainian-born Feodor Fedorenko who, like Demjanjuk, allegedly was a guard at the Treblinka death camp.
Presiding Justice Dov Levin said it was clear from the outset that a judgement by an American court was inadmissable but the defense could bring witnesses from the American court here to testify.
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