It is understandable that journalists might misunderstand basic legalprinciples. It is not excusable for law professors to do so.
Professor Harry Reicher is wrong about John Demjanjuk and wrong aboutthe U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations (whichhe mistakenly calls the Office of Special Prosecutions). [“Demjanjuk deportation: a milestone,” NLJ, June 8.]The U.S. government has indeed pursued John Demjanjuk for more thanthree decades. The old adage “justice must be seen to be done” is agood starting point.
For the first decade and one-half, that pursuit consisted of theDOJ committing fraud on the courts of the United States and Israel.This fraud, documented by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6thCircuit, consisted of the DOJ failing to disclose documents that showedthat Demjanjuk was not “Ivan the Terrible,” a brutal Treblinka guard.Based on the fraudulent evidence, Demjanjuk was extradited to Israeland sentenced to death. His family uncovered the truth, and the IsraelSupreme Court acquitted him.Israel’s attorney general said that the acquittal barred prosecutionfor other offenses, including the ones now being pressed in Germany.Ironically, at that time, the Office of Special Investigations (OSI)allowed Jacob Tannenbaum, a 77-year-old admitted brutal Jewish kapo, tolive out his life at home in the United States due to age and healthreasons.
Despite the Israeli result, and two independent U.S. court findingsof fraud, the OSI has never apologized to anyone, let alone Demjanjukand his family, nor offered compensation. Nor were the perpetrators ofthe fraud punished or even reprimanded. Today, with a blind eye to thecase history, Professor Reicher hails these perpetrators of fraud asheroes.