Demjanjuk's attorney tries to delay trial proceedings
Trial of former Nazi guard resumes in Munich after Christmas recess. Defense attorney Ulrich Busch attempts once again to delay sessions but disregarded by court
The trial of John Demjanjuk, who accused of facilitating the murder tens of thousands of Jews during the Holocaust resumed Tuesday in Munich . Demjanjuk's attorney tried to delay proceedings by claiming he had not received the "prosecution files," but his motion was denied.
Demjanjuk is indicted for helping to murder 27,900 Jews in the Sobibor death camp. However, after only two days of sessions, which commenced at the end of November, the judge ordered to postpone proceedings to December 21 due to the defendant's illness and a fear of infection.
Doctors who examined him in December declared him fit to stand trial and therefore sessions resumed last month for two days prior to the Christmas break.
Defense attorney Ulrich Busch filed a motion at the beginning of Tuesday's session to suspend all hearings until further notice.
He claimed to be in need of various files from the US, Israel, Poland, Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Uzbekistan. According to Busch, some of the files at held by the prosecution, while he was denied access to them.
The attorney further demanded that the judge not to allow Holocaust survivors to attend the hearings. The judge noted that the court had already ruled against such a motion.
The last two trial hearings held last month included the testimony of survivors and relatives of the Sobibor victims.
Jules Schelvis, 88, told the court that he lost 18 family members, including his wife in the camp.
He described having boarded the freight train to Sobibor from the Dutch transit camp of Westerbork.
"There wasn't enough room to sit down in the car, with 62 people inside", Schelvis said. He told the court there were no seats, just two barrels: one containing water, and an empty one used as a toilet. Occupants crowded together so that the old and sick could lie down.
At the same session Busch motioned to halt the legal proceedings against his client and noted that Demjanjuk "had become the victim of an international judicial plot."
