Gov't asks judge to stick with Demjanjuk ruling (AP)

CLEVELAND ? The government has asked a judge to reject a bid for reconsideration by convicted Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk and stick with a decision denying the retired auto worker a chance to regain his U.S. citizenship.

In a filing Thursday night in U.S. District Court, the government said Demjanjuk's appeal for reconsideration is without merit.

The request "rehashes old arguments" and "is nothing more than an effort to prolong this litigation by any means necessary," the government said.

Demjanjuk, 91, who lived for many years in Seven Hills in suburban Cleveland, was convicted by a German court on more than 28,000 counts of accessory to murder. The court found he had worked as a guard at the Sobibor death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.

He claims the government failed to disclose evidence including a 1985 secret FBI report uncovered by The Associated Press. The document indicated the FBI believed a Nazi ID card purportedly showing that he served as a death camp guard was a Soviet-made fake.

There was no immediate response Friday from Demjanjuk's attorney on the government filing opposing reconsideration. A message was left for his attorney seeking comment.

Last month Judge Dan Aaron Polster ruled against the citizenship bid and said Demjanjuk had lied about his whereabouts during World War II.

In a response to the original defense citizenship filing, the government included a recent affidavit from retired FBI agent Thomas Martin. He said the March 4, 1985 report written by him was based on speculation about a Soviet forgery, not any investigation.

Demjanjuk has been in poor health for years and has been in and out of a German hospital since his conviction.

Demjanjuk cannot leave Germany because he has no passport after being stripped of his U.S. citizenship ahead of his deportation to Germany in 2009. He could have gotten a U.S. passport if the denaturalization ruling had been overturned.

The Ukrainian-born Demjanjuk was a Soviet Red Army soldier captured by the Germans in 1942.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120113/ap_on_re_us/us_demjanjuk

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