Deported by the United States, retired autoworker John Demjanjuk was carried in a wheelchair onto a jet that departed Monday evening for Germany, which wants to try him as an accessory to the murders of Jews and others at a Nazi death camp in World War II.
Demjanjuk, 89, arrived in an ambulance at Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport after spending several hours with US immigration officials at a downtown federal building. Airport commissioner Khalid Bahhur confirmed Demjanjuk was on the plane and that its destination is Germany.
Three days ago, he received a notice to surrender. German officials said they expect him to be deported by Tuesday to face criminal charges in Munich. He's accused of 29,000 counts of accessory to murder at the Sobibor death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper reported that Demjanjuk was expected to be flown by private jet from Cleveland's lakefront airport at around 7 pm EDT (2300 GMT).
Demjanjuk denies the charges. He maintains he was held by the Germans as a Soviet prisoner of war and was never a camp guard.
Earlier it was reported that a Berlin court rejected Demjanjuk's appeal aimed at preventing his deportation
to Germany.
An administrative court said Monday that it rejected Demjanjuk's argument that Germany should be compelled to withdraw its agreement to take him in.
It said that Germany's statement of willingness to take him in is not an "essential precondition" for his deportation, which is a decision for the US.
That was in line with a ruling issued last week by a lower court.
Reuters contributed to the report
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