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A former Nazi death squad member failed in an attempt to keep civilians and the media out of his deportation hearing.
Helmut Oberlander filed an application on Tuesday to keep the procedure private in front of the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Commission.
Overlander, who lives in Waterloo, Ontario, claims that he, his family, and his lawyer have been threatened with murder after a news article about his case was published, thereby threatening his safety. bottom.
Board decision makers agreed with media lawyers that the discussion did not reach the threshold to invalidate the principles of the open court in the proceedings.
Born in Ukraine, Overlander was a member of the Nazi death squad, which acted behind the front lines of the German army in the eastern occupied territories during World War II.
The 97-year-old has been drafted as a teenager on death threats and has never been involved in the murder.
He served the Ek10a unit as an interpreter from 1941 to 1943. The death squad was responsible for killing more than 2 million people, most of them Jews.
The Board conducts a permissive hearing on whether Overlander can stay in Canada or return to Germany.
Overlander arrived in Canada in 1954. He became a Canadian citizen six years later, but did not disclose his wartime experience to the new country.
In June 2017, the federal government revoked Canada’s citizenship for the fourth overlander since the mid-1990s.
The board also heard on Tuesday that Overlander’s lawyer Ronald Poulton called for the proceedings to be suspended, partly based on the deterioration of the client’s mental health.
According to a document submitted to the board, Paulton said his client was unable to defend due to his mental condition and was unsuitable to appear before the board.
“He has severe cognitive impairment with persistent delirium and psychosis,” Paulton writes.
He said Overlander “is not expected to survive well beyond the summer.”
Permissive hearings are set to take place throughout the week.
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