Retired Israeli Judge to Help Demjanjuk Appeal Conviction

JERUSALEM — A former Israeli district court judge said Wednesday that he will represent Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk when he appeals his conviction and death sentence because “every man deserves to be defended.”

Dov Eitan will join another Israeli and a Canadian lawyer in the appeal before a panel of five Supreme Court judges in December.

A three-judge panel headed by Supreme Court judge Dov Levine ruled that Demjanjuk, 68, was “Ivan the Terrible,” a sadistic guard at the Treblinka death camp who operated gas chambers that killed 850,000 Jews during World War II.

The Ukranian-born retired autoworker was sentenced to death on April 25.

Eitan, 53, served for 17 years on the Jerusalem District Court bench before retiring in 1983. The weekly magazine Koteret Rashit said his involvement in the trial would add prestige to the defense.

Eitan’s Israeli colleague, Yoram Sheftel, who defended Demjanjuk from the start of the trial in February, 1987, was widely criticized by Israelis for defending Demjanjuk.

But Eitan said he is not worried about public reaction. “I’m a lawyer,” he said in an interview. “Demjanjuk’s family appealed to me, and after lengthy consideration I decided the case was worth defending. Every man deserves to be defended.”