The World - News from Jan. 29, 1988

John Demjanjuk, facing a possible death sentence in an Israeli court as an accused Nazi war criminal, asked permission to recite a prayer in his native Ukrainian language, but it was denied. The request by the lawyer for the retired U.S. auto worker came as prosecutors were about to begin the fourth day of closing arguments in the trial. Judge Dov Levin told the 67-year-old defendant that prayer is not appropriate in the courtroom and that he could return to his cell if he wished to pray. Demjanjuk is accused of being “Ivan the Terrible,” a sadistic guard at the Treblinka death camp during World War II.