Criminal justice for Demjanjuk

We take issue with your recommendation that John Demjanjuk should be allowed to return to the United States in the editorial "Let Demjanjuk Return," Aug. 16. The specter of a return by Mr. Demjanjuk, welcomed by those who see him as a victim, is obscene.

Your editorial references an exhaustive six-month investigation into the handling of the Demjanjuk case by a special master appointed by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals - but ignores the 210-page report's conclusions: that no evidence has emerged to cast doubt on the fact that Demjanjuk voluntarily served in the German SS and that, therefore, the decision to strip him of his citizenship and any right to enter or be present within our borders was "sound."

Those who claim that Demjanjuk's return to the US would serve the interests of justice should readjust their moral compasses. The Justice Department is to be commended for its active efforts to bar entry to Demjanjuk in the face of overwhelming evidence that he was an active, voluntary participant in wartime atrocities. Melvin Salberg, New York National Chairman Abraham H. Foxman, National Director Anti-Defamation League

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