Accused Nazi losing battle

LOSING another round in court, John Demjanjuk, the retired auto worker accused of being a Nazi concentration camp guard, may be running out of legal options in his decades-long deportation battle.

The 85-year-old man once suspected of being the notoriously brutal guard known as Ivan the Terrible has 30 days to appeal a judge’s deportation order that would send him to his native Ukraine.

Chief US Immigration Judge Michael Creppy ruled that there was no evidence to substantiate Demjanjuk’s claim that he would be tortured if deported to his homeland. He said Demjanjuk should be deported to Germany or Poland if Ukraine does not accept him.

Justice Department spokesman Bryan Sierra said the judge’s decision “brings the government one step closer” to removing Demjanjuk from the US.

An official with the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, the Los Angeles-based Jewish group dedicated to preserving the memory of the Holocaust, said the ruling was important to resolving the case.

“Justice in this case is long delayed,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper.

Demjanjuk, who came to the United States in 1952, lost his US citizenship after a judge ruled in 2002 that documents from World War II prove he was a Nazi guard at various camps.