Haaretz 04 Ottobre 2009

The trial of John Demjanjuk, accused of being a Nazi guard who herded thousands of people into gas chambers during the Holocaust, cannot begin before early November, a German court spokesman said Thursday.

Demjanjuk, 89, was deported to Germany from his U.S. home in May this year and was indicted two months ago on 27,900 counts of accessory to murder.

The suspected Nazi guard is awaiting trial in the sick bay of Munich's Stadelheim Prison.

Demjanjuk, who turns 90 next April, cannot concentrate on evidence for more than two blocks of 90 minutes daily, according to the German doctors assigned to his care, so any trial is likely to proceed very slowly.

The court is currently debating whether to open proceedings before a trial date can be scheduled.

Prosecutors say German records prove he was an auxiliary guard in 1943 at Sobibor death camp in occupied Poland.

Demjanjuk was previously charged by Israel for working at the death camp Treblinka, but he was acquitted of the charges in the 1990s.

There has been speculation he may be tried in a prison hall to avoid the strain of daily trips to and fro in a prison van, but a site cannot be chosen or furnished till after state court judges decide if the trial should take place or not.

Source >  Haaretz | oct 02