The trial of suspected war criminal John Demjanjuk was marked by rancor between the defense counsel and the three-judge bench Wednesday as a West German jurist took the witness stand to give testimony about a key document in the case.
Demjanjuk’s American attorney, Mark O’Connor, and his Israeli aide, Yoram Sheftel, objected strenuously that they were not given time to study the written testimony on which the witness, Helga Gravitz, will be cross-examined. Gravitz, a Hamburg district attorney since 1966, is active in researching and prosecuting former Nazis and their collaborators.
Defense objections were overruled but the court agreed, over protests by the prosecution, to cancel the afternoon session to allow O’Connor and Sheftel to scrutinize the material. Gravitz will be questioned about the identification card reportedly bearing Demjanjuk’s photograph and physical details, issued at the Trawniki SS camp where guards were trained for their duties at the Treblinka and Sobibor death camps.
The card was obtained from the Soviet Union and the defense contends it is a forgery. Gravitz, who has gathered documents in a number of countries, including the USSR, will testify as an expert.
HIGH COURT TO HEAR DEFENSE APPEAL
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear a defense appeal Sunday against the three-judge panel’s refusal to disqualify itself. O’Connor had demanded on Monday that the judges step down because of alleged bias against the defendant and his lawyers. The motion was denied and the court refused to suspend the hearing while the appeal was pending.
Judge Dov Levin, president of the court, insisted the bench has acted “with more than usual forbearance” in hearing the case. But there is evident antipathy between the judges and defense counsel.
REPRIMANDED FOR CROSS-EXAMINATION MANNER
O’Connor was sharply reprimanded Tuesday for the manner in which he cross-examined Martin Koller, a Holocaust survivor who was employed by the U.S. occupation forces in Europe after World War II investigating Nazi war crimes.
Koller, 67, was questioned about his testimony in the 1978 denaturalization trial in Florida of alleged war criminal Feodor Fedorenko, who, like Demjanjuk, was identified as a guard at the Treblinka death camp. He described as “cold and almost hostile” the Florida court’s attitude toward Treblinka survivors who testified about Fedorenko’s activities.
Asked by O’Connor if he felt the same way about his cross-examination here, Koller replied, “Heaven forbid.” Judge Levin interjected, “That should put Mr. O’Connor in a better mood.”
Demjanjuk, who was held at the maximum security prison in Ramle until his trial began five weeks ago, is now confined to a cell in the Binyanei Haooma concert hall which is serving as a courtroom to accommodate the large numbers of spectators and the media.
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