MUNICH (AFP)---The trial in Germany of alleged Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk will take months longer than had been anticipated, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
Previously, the trial in Munich of the 89-year-old on charges of helping to kill 27,900 Jews and others while a guard in World War II had been expected to wrap up in May.
But with proceedings taking longer than expected, a new timetable from the court foresees scheduled sessions until at least September 13, a spokesman for prosecutors told reporters.
Ukrainian-born Demjanjuk was deported from the United States last May and has been on trial since November 30.
There are no living witnesses able to positively identify Demjanjuk, but the prosecution says it has an SS identity card proving he was at a training camp for guards and that he was then transferred to work at the Sobibor death camp.
Demjanjuk, whose family says he is gravely ill and who has appeared in court on a stretcher, denies the charges but has so far declined to address the court. Proceedings are restricted to two 90-minute sessions per day.
Several sessions have been curtailed or postponed due to Demjanjuk's health complaints.
On Wednesday the court heard evidence from Alex Nagorny, 93, a Ukrainian now living in Bavaria who was at the same Trawniki training camp for guards that Demjanjuk is alleged to have attended.
Nagorny told the court that after his training he was a guard at an aircraft factory in Rostock in northern Germany employing forced labourers and at the Flossenbuerg concentration camp near Nuremberg in Bavaria.
In previous statements Nagorny has stated that he did not remember Demjanjuk. In calling him as a witness, the court is attempting to ascertain whether "Trawnikis" could refuse to participate in mass murder.