An international human-rights organization has asked a Spanish court to indict John Demjanjuk and three others and seek their extradition from the U.S. to stand trial for Nazi-era war crimes against Spanish nationals.

It could take months for a Spanish judge to decide whether or not to ask the U.S. to extradite Demjanjuk, representatives of the Brussels-based Equipo Nizkor say. Demjanjuk currently lives in the Cleveland suburb of Seven Hills.

All four men have been stripped of their citizenship and are under deportation orders from the U.S., but still remain in this country, in effect stateless but free. The extradition effort is a way to help the U.S. “get rid of Nazi war criminals ordered deported but no country is willing to accept them,” says Efraim Zuroff, chief Nazi hunter of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem.

He and Gloria Trinidad, a Madrid lawyer, “hatched” the idea six months ago to file the lawsuit in the Spanish court, Zuroff adds. To his and Trinidad’s surprise, German prosecutors also announced last week they would also attempt to extradite Demjanjuk for war crimes committed while he was a guard at Sobibor concentration camp in Poland. They plan to ask a judge by the end of the summer to extradite Demjanjuk.

In the Spanish action, Zuroff says the group limited its extradition request to four Nazi war criminals who served in camps in which Spanish citizens had been persecuted and murdered. These were not Jewish victims; they were left-wing Spanish Republicans, political opponents of dictator Francisco Franco’s regime, Zuroff says.

During the Spanish Civil War, these Spaniards fled to France and were captured while fighting German troops, the Associated Press reported. All ended up as prisoners at Flossenburg or Sachsenhausen concentration camps in Germany or at Mauthausen in Austria, where thousands of Spaniards were killed; the four named in the Equipo lawsuit were Nazi guards at one or more of those camps.

Demjanjuk, 88 and reportedly in frail health, was a guard at Flossenburg, along with two other Nazi camps, a federal judge in Cleveland ruled six years ago. He then stripped Demjanjuk of his citizenship.

Along with Demjanjuk, Equipo Nizkor seeks extradition of former Nazi guards Anton Tittjung, Josias Kumpf and Johan Leprich. The four men were not charged with war crimes in the U.S., but with lying about their wartime past on their citizenship papers. Punishment is denaturalization and deportation. The Spanish and German courts are being asked to charge the men criminally, which could result in prison sentences.

Equipo’s lawsuit is based on Spain’s principle of absolute universal jurisdiction in cases of crimes against humanity. As long as Spanish citizens were injured, the Spanish courts have agreed in the past to hear such cases, even if the crimes occurred in foreign territory. Spanish judges have used the principle to prosecute the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and others charged with crimes against humanity in Argentina.

The lawsuit, filed June 19 at Spain’s National Court, starts a process that may take months, Zuroff notes. The court would have to decide whether to accept the case and file charges. There is no statute of limitations on crimes against humanity.

Richard Wilson, a member of Equipo and also a law professor at American University and director of its international human rights law clinic, has been working on the case since the spring. In previous cases, he has interviewed Spanish victims who survived the Nazi concentration camps, lost their Spanish citizenship, and never regained it.

There has never been any court willing to try Nazi guards for war crimes except in Israel, where Demjanjuk was extradited from the U.S., Wilson noted.

How likely is a Spanish judge to agree to extradite Demjanjuk? The Spanish courts have heard dozens of cases involving crimes against humanity, Wilson says, so there is precedent for this type of complaint. Individuals cannot be tried unless they are physically present in Spain, and since these four men are no longer U.S. citizens, there is no “impediment to their extradition,” he says.

However, Spain has never tried denaturalized Nazis involved in war crimes, so the case is unusual, Wilson notes. If Spanish public officials support the extradition, that may help persuade a judge to take up the case, and extradition could proceed fairly quickly.

“It’s a test of the Spanish government as well, if they decide to weigh in on this,” says Wilson.

Zuroff thinks there’s a good chance Spain will take the case. Although he played no role in the possible German extradition request, he’s very pleased the Germans are interested in trying Demjanuk for war crimes. “I was really surprised. Germany has consistently refused to take these people. Apparently, they want to show good will that they are actively pursuing these cases.”

Those who cry that Demjanjuk and the other former Nazi guards are too old to stand trial and that their continued prosecution is unfair are missing the point, Wilson says. “These victims are also old and never had their day in court. There was never accountability for these wrongs. That’s the responsibility of states to undertake. There’s not a little asterisk that says �except when you’re old.’”

The U.S. could not try the former Nazi guards for war crimes because in this country, the crime has to occur within U.S. jurisdiction, notes Cleveland immigration attorney David Leopold. That’s why they were prosecuted under civil immigration law.

The surprising possibility that Spain and/or Germany may request Demjanjuk’s extradition provides one more mechanism for the U.S. to finally remove the retired autoworker, says Leopold. If either country makes the request, the U.S. would have to hold an extradition hearing, which could move rather quickly if the government so chooses.

“There is no statute of limitations for genocide, and we have full faith in the U.S. Justice Department in their persistence” to bring Demjanjuk and the others to justice, says Bruce Mandel, chairman of the community relations committee of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland.

Demjanjuk may be sick and old, but if you ask Holocaust survivors or their family if it’s just to continue pursuing charges against him, the answer would be obvious, Mandel says. “We have to take a stand against those who perpetrated the Holocaust and other genocides. Time should not be a factor in bringing them to justice.”

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John Demjanjuk’s 30-year legal saga

1977 n U.S. charges Demjanjuk with being brutal Treblinka gas chamber guard Ivan the Terrible.

1981 n Demjanjuk is convicted of lying on his citizenship papers and stripped of his U.S. citizenship.

1986 nHe’s extradited to Israel.

1988 n Demjanjuk is found guilty and sentenced to death. He appeals.

1993 n Israeli Supreme Court overturns his conviction after evidence released when the Soviet Union collapsed created doubt that he was the Treblinka guard. He returned to the U.S., and his citizenship was restored.

1999 n U.S. government filed a new complaint that he was trained as Nazi guard and served at three concentration camps.

2002 n Federal judge again strips Demjanjuk of his citizenship. After Demjanjuk’s appeals were denied, a U.S. immigration judge ordered him deported.

2005 n Immigration judge orders Demjanjuk deported to Ukraine, Germany or Poland. Appeals court upholds order.

May 2008 n U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Demjanjuk’s final appeal.

June 19, 2008 n Suit filed in Spanish court seeking Demjanjuk’s extradition to stand trial for crimes against humanity. German prosecutors also announce they will seek his extradition for trial on war crimes.

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