BERLIN-
German prosecutors said Wednesday they have charged retired Ohio auto worker John Demjanjuk with more than 29,000 counts of accessory to murder for his time as a guard at the Nazis' Sobibor death camp, and will seek his extradition from the U.S.Demjanjuk (dem-YAHN'-yuk)[seeing in picture left,laughing during Court proceedings in Israel-1992] is accused of participating in the murders while he was a guard at the Nazi camp in occupied Poland between March and September 1943
."In this capacity, he participated in the accessory to murder of at least 29,000 people of the Jewish faith," Munich prosecutors said in a statement.The 88-year-old Demjanjuk, who lives in a Cleveland suburb, denies involvement.Demjanjuk's son, John Demjanjuk Jr., said in an e-mailed statement to the AP in Cleveland that his father is suffering from a blood disorder and acute kidney failure, and is not fit for international travel
. "Whatever the Germans decide to do, we will continue to fight for justice in this sad case as there has never been any credible evidence of his personal involvement in even one murder, let alone thousands,"Demjanjuk Jr. said
."He has never hurt anyone-before,during or after the war. He is a good person as his family, grandchildren, friends and neighbors have always maintained."Efraim Zuroff, the top Nazi hunter at Israel's Simon Wiesenthal Center, said he was
"very pleased that the German authorities have taken this step." "We hope that the process can be expedited to ensure that this Holocaust perpetrator will finally be appropriately punished," Zuroff told the AP in a telephone interview from Jerusalem
. "We're on our way to a victory for justice today."A native of Ukraine, Demjanjuk emigrated to the U.S. in 1952 and gained citizenship in 1958.In denying involvement in war crimes, he has said he served in the Soviet army and became a prisoner of war when he was captured by Germany in 1942.
By David Rising--AP Writer
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