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Will Zuzak; DEMANUK.010 = Jan 1991 excerpt to Gazette; 1993-09-27
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Dear Subscribers:
     In examining my files, I ran across the following excerpt written in 
early 1991, concerning the Demjanjuk case. I am posting it for your 
information:
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     To balance our positive commentaries, we have chosen 3
topics on which we feel the Gazette should be chastised:

1.   Demjanjuk Trial
     John Demjanjuk was accused by the Office of Special
Investigation (OSI) of the U.S. Justice Department of falsifying
his place of birth on his 1951 immigration application, stripped
of his U.S. citizenship in February 1981 and subsequently
extradited to the state of Israel on Feb. 27, 1986. In November
of that year he was charged with perpetrating atrocities in
Treblinka between July 1942 and Aug. 2, 1943. At the conclusion
of the trial lasting from Feb. 16, 1987 to Apr. 18, 1988, he was
found guilty by the three lower court judges and sentenced to
death by hanging.
     John Demjanjuk has steadfastly maintained that he was never
in Treblinka and that he is a victim of mistaken identity. An
increasing amount of evidence has surfaced indicating that the
OSI and the Israeli prosecution withheld exculpatory evidence
from the courts and from the Demjanjuk defense. Some of this
evidence was obtained via FOIA suits by the Demjanjuk family
against the OSI. Other documents were retrieved from the garbage
as the OSI attempted to destroy key evidence contradicting
prosecution testimony. Still more evidence was forthcoming from
German and Polish witnesses.
     The Appeal before the Supreme Court of Israel, originally
scheduled for Dec. 5, 1988, was postponed until April 1989
because of the defenestration of defense attorney Dov Eitan and
an acid attack on attorney Yoram Sheftel. Due to further delays
and the presentation of new evidence, the Appeal did not
officially commence until May 14, 1990 and was adjourned on June
29, 1990 for 6 months to permit new evidence to be obtained. Most
recently, the Supreme Court heard further evidence on Dec. 27 and
31, 1990, after prosecution attorney Michael Shaked made a secret
trip to Moscow to corroborate the existence of further
exculpatory evidence.
     The world news media, including the Montreal Gazette
provided massive coverage of the initial stages of the Jeruaslem
show trial when the prosecution was presenting its case. Coverage
of the case for the defense was perfunctory, at best, and slanted
to exclude or distort key pieces of evidence beneficial to the
defense.
     Thereafter, the Gazette appeared to make a concerted effort
to ignore the Demjanjuk case. They declined to interview Yoram
Sheftel or John Demjanjuk Jr. when they were in Montreal in
September 1989 addressing the McGill Law faculty on the case. At
the invitation of the Gazette, the head of the Charitable
Committee in Aid of John Demjanjuk's Family (Montreal), Lily
Zuzak, submitted an article titled OSI Misconduct Confirmed in
Demjanjuk Case (see Addendum A). Summaries of the Civil Action
Suit No. 86-2802-LFO, Nishnic vs OSI, 1989-09-12; OSI reply,
1989-09-16; Nishnic reply to OSI, 1989-11-15 were provided as
background material. Also, addresses and phone numbers of Ed
Nishnic and his attorney, John Broadley, were requested by and
provided to the Gazette. After much procrastination the Gazette
finally refused to publish the article without citing any reason
for the refusal (see Addendum B).
     During all of 1990, only 10 articles plus 2 letters appeared
in the Gazette between the dates May 8 and June 29 reporting on
the Demjanjuk Appeal. We have not as yet been able to cross
reference these articles against the Appeal transcripts. However,
particularly noticeable was that out of the 10 articles, there
were 8 references to "Ukrainian-born" and 6 references to
"850,000 Jews died in Treblinka". This continues in the tradition
of the Gazette reporting on the 1987-88 Jerusalem Trial during
which these terms were used 68 and 59 times respectively in 83
articles between Feb. 20, 1987 and Jan. 28, 1988. Secondly, only
in the 2 letters written by Demjanjuk supporters was any
reference made to the nefarious role of the OSI in suborning
perjury and withholding exculpatory evidence from the Demjanjuk
defense. Finally, the Gazette did not report on prosecutor
Shaked's secret visit to Moscow, nor the Israeli Supreme Court
sittings on Dec. 27 and 31, 1990.
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Will Zuzak; DEMANUK.010 = Jan 1991 excerpt to Gazette; 1991-09-27
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