A Spanish court in Madrid has accepted a lawsuit against four men accused of working as guards at Nazi concentration camps in Austria and Germany, where thousands of Spaniards died, during World War II. The 'Audiencia Nacional' ruled it would proceed with the lawsuit brought by a Brussels-based rights organization, 'Equipo Nizkor', under Spain's principle of "universal jurisdiction", the 'El Mundo' newspaper reported. Under this principle, adopted by the Spanish judiciary in 2005, crimes against humanity, war crimes, terrorism and other heinous offences can be prosecuted in Spain even if they were committed abroad. All four defendants, among them John Demjanjuk, the 88-year-old who is also being sought by Germany, live in the United States. Demjanjuk has lost his US citizenship and could be extradited soon.
The ruling by the Audiencia Nacional demands the extradition of the four men to Spain to stand trial for the deaths of Spanish citizens at camps at Flossenbürg, Sachsenhausen and Mauthausen where they allegedly worked as guards. More than 7,000 Spaniards were held as prisoners at the Mauthausen camp and over 4,300 of them died, according to El Mundo.
