John Demjanjuk, Nazi War Criminals Sentenced to Prison

Family John Demjanjuk claimed bad health condition

German Court stated John Demjanjuk was guilty of involvement in the murder of at least 28,000 Jews in Nazi camps in World War II.  He was sentenced to five years in prison, one year lighter than the prosecution.

Prosecutors claimed that Demjanjuk was born in Ukraine 91 years ago was the guard camp Sobibor in Poland in 1943.  Demjanjuk has denied menjagi guard camp and said he was the Nazi prisoners of war and that he was a victim too.

Demjanjuk’s lawyer said they would appeal the decision. So far it is unclear whether Demjanjuk sentence will be reduced jail term he had passed. He was detained since extradited from the United States in 2009.

After the war Demjanjuk lived in the United States and worked at the Ohio auto factory and later became a U.S. citizen.  Demjanjuk was reported not to react when punishment was read.

Germany’s first legal argument
Demjanjuk was born in Ukraine in 1920 and grew up during Soviet rule. He became a Red Army soldier in 1942 and later captured by the Germans.  Prosecutors said he was recruited by the German camp guards and a SS. Nazi camp officer considered to be involved in the murder of Jews.

This is the first time such a legal argument filed in German courts.  “The court believes that the defendant … had been a guard at Sobibor from March 27, 1943 to mid-September 1943,” said Judge Ralph Alt.

“As a bodyguard he participated in the killing of at least 28,000 people,” he said.  About 250,000 people were killed in the Sobibor gas chambers.

Demjanjuk has languished for eight years in Israeli prisons. In the 1980s, Israeli courts refer to as “Ivan the Pengacau”, a sadistic guard at the Treblinka camp and sentenced to death.

His sentence is revoked after new evidence emerged to suggest that a citizen of other Ukrainians were responsible.