Munich - John Demjanjuk, the 89-year-old man accused of herding Jews to gas chambers at a Nazi death camp in 1943, returned to a German jail on Wednesday after three days of hospital treatment for gout, his lawyer in Munich said. Guenther Maull said medical tests on Demjanjuk would continue after the course of treatment at Harlaching Hospital in the city.
"They are tests to establish his fitness to stand trial," said Maull. If he were not fit, there would be no purpose in indicting him. "The prosecutors won't be able to indict him until after he has been interrogated, or if he is not fit to stand trial," he said.
Gout is a disease of the joints caused by metabolic problems leading to high levels of uric acid in the blood. It is often triggered by eating unsuitable food. Demjanjuk was moved to the city hospital on Monday.
Demjanjuk was deported to Munich from the United States this month to face charges that he was a Nazi auxiliary during the War and took part in the killings of 29,000 Jews at Sobibor death camp.
The main evidence against him is an SS personnel card.
The German defence lawyer said the medical tests would probably be completed late this week, but there was no sign of when the medical report would be ready. Maull said he did not expect any trial to begin before late September.
