German court finds former Nazi guard guilty of 27,900 deaths

Thursday May 12, 2011 08:47:22 PM, RIA Novosti

Munich: A court in Munich Thursday found 91-year-old Ukraine-born Ivan Demjanjuk guilty of helping to kill at least 27,900 Jews at a Nazi extermination camp in 1943.

Demjanjuk was drafted into the Soviet army in 1940 and was serving in eastern Crimea in 1942 when he was captured by the Germans. He was then inducted as a guard at the Sobibor concentration camp in occupied Poland.

Prosecutors said Demjanjuk was involved in the murders of at least 27,900 Jews at the camp between March and September 1943.

After the war, Demjanjuk lived in southern Germany, working as a driver. In 1952, he migrated with his family to the US, where he worked as an engine mechanic at a car plant.

Demjanjuk was deported from the US to Israel in 1986 to face allegations that he had served as a camp guard nicknamed "Ivan the Terrible" at the Treblinka death camp. However, this accusation could not be proven.

The Munich trial began in November 2009. Demjanjuk attended the 18-month court proceedings in a wheelchair and sometimes lying down, with his family trying to argue that he was too infirm to stand trial.

The court Thursday sentenced him to five years in prison.

His lawyers said they would appeal the verdict.

 

                                           Home | Top of the Page

Top Stories

India set for history-making election outcome

India prepares to count Friday the millions of votes cast in five states, the results widely tipped to end more than three decades of Communist rule in West Bengal, cause upsets in possibly two states  »

Congress, opposition confident of winning in Assam

Any which way, Bengal braces for historic verdict

  Most Read

Gaddafi appears on state television

Footage of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi meeting tribal leaders was broadcast on state television Thursday. Officials claimed the   »

NATO doesn't know if Gaddafi is dead or alive

Government on image-building drive

The 24-month-old Manmohan Singh government, hit by several corruption scandals, Thursday began an image-building drive by launching press briefings by a select group of ministers, sidelining the Press Information Bureau (PIB).  »

As parties play politics of land, divides deepen

  News Pick

19 killed, hundreds injured in clashes across Yemen

At least 19 people were killed and hundreds of others injured when Yemeni security forces opened fire to disperse the protesters in Yemen's capital city and provinces Wednesday, Xinhua reported. In Sana'a, security  »

Bangladesh apex court bans fatwa as punishment

Bangladesh's Supreme Court Thursday ruled against 'fatwa' (Islamic religious edict) being issued as punishment against hapless women. The Supreme Court modified a High Court verdict of 2001, saying that no person can pronounce  »

Apex court notice to Narendra Modi on police officer's plea

The Supreme Court Thursday issued notice to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on a petition by a Gujarat cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, Pradeep Kumar Sharma, seeking a CBI probe into the   »

India signs Nagoya Protocol on genetic resources

India has signed the landmark Nagoya Protocol linking conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity with development. The Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilisation was signed here Wednesday by India's  »

Bhopal Gas Tragedy survivors protest, call May 11 as ‘Black Day’ for Justice

For the survivors and victims of Bhopal Gas Tragedy, the world’s worst industrial disaster, along with for the NGOs working  »

Supreme Court rejects CBI plea to reopen Bhopal case

Picture of the Day

Vice President Mohd. Hamid Ansari addresses after releasing the special issue of “Think India” quarterly on Faiz Ahmad Faiz, in New Delhi on May 10, 2011. Also seen in the picture is Member Planning Commission Dr Syeda Hameed among others.

(Photo: Hansraj)