Demjanjuk remains hospitalized; defense accuses judges of already deciding on guilty verdict

Demjanjuk remains in hospital for 3rd day

BERLIN — The five-judge panel hearing the case against John Demjanjuk threw out motions to dismiss it Thursday and said it still found the evidence against him to be strong.

Demjanjuk’s attorney said it appeared the Munich court had already decided to find him guilty.

Demjanjuk, who turned 90 last month, is standing trial on 27,900 counts of accessory to murder on allegations he was a guard at the Nazi’s Sobibor death camp in occupied Poland. He denies ever being at any camp, claiming he is the victim of mistaken identity.

In several motions, his attorney Ulrich Busch had asked the court to end the proceedings against Demjanjuk and release him, arguing that evidence presented since his trial began Nov. 30 has either not been credible or has failed to prove that he was a camp guard.

But in dismissing the motions Thursday, the judges said “there continues to be strong suspicion” against Demjanjuk and rejected many of the defense team’s arguments.

“This confirms my opinion that the court has already reached a judgment,” Busch told the AP after the hearing.

The trial was called off for the third day in a row after the court doctor said Demjanjuk needed to remain hospitalized with dangerously low blood hemoglobin levels.

Though an EKG exam indicated that Demjanjuk had not suffered a heart attack, doctors at the clinic where he was being treated in intensive care said his hemoglobin level was at one point down to a reading of 8 — with normal levels being about 14 to 18 — and that he needed a transfusion.

Demjanjuk, a retired Ohio autoworker who was deported from the U.S. last year to Germany, suffers from several medical problems but has been declared fit to face trial as long as court sessions are limited to two 90-minute sessions per day. At least seven trial dates have been canceled, however, due to medical issues.

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Associated Press Writer David Rising contributed to this report from Berlin.