Berlin/Washington - When a Munich court issued an arrest warrant in one of the longest outstanding cases from World War II, it signalled the resumption of an off-again, on-again prosecution that until now has led nowhere.
The court issued the warrant Wednesday for John Demjanjuk, 88, who is accused of being a brutal guard at the Nazi's Sobibor death damp, in present-day Poland.
German prosecutors claimed that from March to the end of September 1943, Demjanjuk was a guard implicated as an accessory in the murders of at least 29,000 Jews at the camp.
Wednesday's move by the Munich court could represent the first steps in paving the way for the extradition of Demjanjuk from the United States, where he currently resides.