‘Ivan The Terrible’ Case May Not Be Reopened : Extradition: U.S. says it has no evidence to justify reopening case of Ohio auto worker convicted in Israel of being Nazi death camp guard.

The government said Thursday that it has no evidence that would justify reopening the extradition of John Demjanjuk, who was convicted in Israel of being the Nazi death camp guard “Ivan the Terrible.”

Over the last two years, Demjanjuk’s defense has obtained 80 statements identifying another man, Ivan Marchenko, as “Ivan.” Demjanjuk’s lawyer in Israel, Yoram Sheftel, has argued that Israeli prosecutors and the Justice Department framed him.

Justice Department lawyers argued in a document filed with the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals that the court should not reopen the extradition case that sent the retired Ohio auto worker to Israel in 1987 for prosecution.

“Even if this court may reconsider its 1985 decision, it should not do so,” the lawyers wrote, referring to the appellate court’s ruling that cleared the way for Demjanjuk’s extradition. “Extradition requires only a showing of probable cause to believe that the defendant has committed an offense.”

The appellate court said June 5 that the extradition warrant might have been based on erroneous information.

The Justice Department filing said the court no longer has jurisdiction because Demjanjuk is in Israeli custody. It said the court had found that identification of Demjanjuk by survivors of the Treblinka death camp in Poland established probable cause.

“None of those survivors has recanted his or her identification, and the identifications still establish probable cause today,” the government said.

On June 5, the appeals court gave the Justice Department until Wednesday to file all evidence the government might have showing that Demjanjuk is not “Ivan the Terrible.”

Demjanjuk and his lawyers have until July 25 to file their evidence with the court. A hearing is scheduled for Aug. 11.

“Our first reaction is that they signed their name on this motion, and they’re going to have to stick by what they said,” said Ed Nishnic, Demjanjuk’s son-in-law.

Demjanjuk, 72, of the Cleveland suburb of Seven Hills was convicted in Jerusalem of operating gas chambers at Treblinka, where more than 850,000 Jews were killed in 1942 and 1943. Key testimony came from five Treblinka survivors who identified him as “Ivan.”

He was sentenced to death but is appealing the conviction and sentence.

Demjanjuk maintains that he is a victim of mistaken identity and that he had been a prisoner of war in German hands.

The defense’s 80 depositions, from 37 Ukrainian guards and forced laborers at Treblinka, identify Marchenko as “Ivan” and give physical descriptions that do not fit Demjanjuk.

Israeli prosecutor Michael Shaked says he did not believe the depositions lessened the importance of other evidence that Demjanjuk had been in Treblinka and other death camps.

Shaked has said Demjanjuk gave the name of Marchenko as his mother’s maiden name in a 1948 visa application form. The defense has argued that he chose Marchenko at random because he couldn’t remember the real maiden name.

Shaked also has said he has proof that Demjanjuk was a guard at the Sobibor death camp in Poland and the Flossenburg concentration camp in Germany.