The World - News from Nov. 24, 1986
An Israeli court ordered that the Nazi war crimes trial of John Demjanjuk, retired Cleveland auto worker, begin Wednesday. The trial date, originally set for Jan. 19, was moved up when it was found that Demjanjuk’s detention order was about to expire, a Justice Ministry spokeswoman said. Defense attorney Mark O’Connor said he refused to seek an extension of the detention order because he wanted to dramatize complaints about the “inhumane conditions” of his client’s incarceration. The Ukrainian-born Demjanjuk is accused of being “Ivan the Terrible,” a guard noted for his cruelty at the Treblinka death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland in World War II. Demjanjuk says his is a case of mistaken identity.
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