Demjanjuk trial again delayed as defendant feels indisposed

The crimes trial in Munich, Germany of Ivan (John) Demjanjuk, 89, was adjourned for a second day running on Thursday after doctors said that the defendant’s blood counts were poor and he was complaining of dizziness. It was the fourth trial day that was canceled since the case came to court in November 2009. Demjanjuk is staying in the hospital wing of a Munich prison. Outside the court room, presiding judge Ralph Alt said he was expecting the trial to take longer than initially planned, with hearings "definitely continuing until the summer break."

Meanwhile, a Russian man has claimed that he remembered seeing Demjanjuk at the Sobibor death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland in 1943. Alexei Vaitsen, 87, told a Czech radio journalist that he had seen Demjanjuk taking inmates into the woods. Vaitsen spent a year at Sobibor. German prosecutors said they would investigate his claim, but said it was up to the court whether to call Vaitsen as a witness. The retired investigator Thomas Walther, who led the effort that resulted in Germany prosecuting Demjanjuk, expressed skepticism that after so many years and so much publicity, Vaitsen could suddenly provide anything new.

Demjanjuk allegedly wore an SS uniform and is on trial for aiding to murder 27,900 murders at the death camp.