Son: Demjanjuk in pain after federal custody

[April 16, 2009]  CLEVELAND (AP) -- John Demjanjuk was exhausted and in pain after an aborted attempt by immigration enforcement officers to deport him to Germany, and a court should consider whether the 89-year-old man would even survive an overseas flight, his son said Wednesday.

Germany has an arrest warrant accusing Demjanjuk (pronounced dem-YAHN'-yuk) of being a guard at a Nazi death camp during World War II.

On Tuesday, six U.S. immigration officers carried him in a wheelchair from his ranch home in suburban Seven Hills to send him to Germany. Within hours, the retired autoworker won a reprieve from an appeals court and another chance to argue that deportation would amount to torture.

Asked how his father was feeling when he arrived back home, Demjanjuk Jr. said: "Exhausted and in a lot of pain in his spine. They actually dropped him in his bedroom when they were trying to get him into the wheelchair. I'm telling you, this was torture."

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Lou Martinez disputed the son's accusations. He said Demjanjuk was removed carefully from his home Tuesday.

"At no time did ICE officers drop Mr. Demjanjuk," said Martinez, who was present in the house when Demjanjuk was taken out. "He was taken out very delicately, placed in a wheelchair, rolled out in the wheelchair and then taken down four small steps in front of the house into a waiting van that was wheelchair accessible. We had a physician and a nurse there who evaluated him."

Demjanjuk could be seen outside the house being carried in the wheelchair, his head tilted back, his eyes closed and his mouth open.

His wife, Vera, wept. Granddaughter Olivia Nishnic described seeing the removal as horrible.

Demjanjuk Jr. was not present when the removal happened. He drove across Ohio to the federal appeals court in Cincinnati to personally deliver legal papers seeking a stay and a request. He also delivered a video of a recent medical examination of his father.

A Division of Immigration Health Services doctor who recently examined Demjanjuk determined he is "medically stable" to travel from the United States to Germany, but the family and Demjanjuk's lawyer on Wednesday questioned whether all information has been released about the flight being potentially fatal for him.

"It's gone from senseless to sinister," Demjanjuk Jr. said.

Demjanjuk Jr. said his father is so frail that even if given additional oxygen aboard an aircraft he might not be able to breathe. He wants the appeals court in Ohio to have all medical information.

"I'm confident that they are going to demand that all the information accessible in the United States and Germany," Demjanjuk Jr. said. "Once they have that information, the case is over."

The German arrest warrant claims Demjanjuk was an accessory to some 29,000 deaths during World War II at the Sobibor camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. Once in Germany, he could be formally charged in court.

Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney said Tuesday the government will continue its legal battle, but there was no indication of any government filing in the case at the appeals court on Wednesday.

Demjanjuk lawyer John Broadley in Washington said no oral arguments were expected on Wednesday and he was waiting to learn what the court may seek or require.

[Associated Press; By M.R. KROPKO]

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