TORONTO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th March, 2021) Lawyers for Helmut Oberlander have asked for permanent stay of deportation proceedings against the former Schutzstaffel (SS) member accusing Canada of withholding sensitive documents critical to the case, documents filed in the Federal Court of Canada and made public on Friday revealed.
The 96-year-old's legal counsel say that federal prosecutors withheld confidential documents from the 1986-87 Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals in Canada report, better known as the Deschênes Commission, according to which the commission never established clear evidence of Oberlander's participation in any war crimes or crimes against humanity.
"It is submitted that this is one of the rare cases in which a stay of further proceedings before the Immigration Division is warranted on a permanent basis. The Minister [of Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada's] conduct is high-handed, egregious and patently unfair," the documents filed on Thursday said.
Lawyers for the former Nazi proposed, alternatively, that proceedings be temporarily stayed until the Governor in Council concludes whether to reconsider the decision to strip Oberlander of his Canadian passport in light of the new information, the court documents said.
Oberlander only learned of the commission's findings through a Toronto Star article that was included in the evidence submitted by government lawyers for the former SS member's admissibility hearing, that was set to commence last month, according to the documents.
Last month, Canada's Immigration and Refugee board (IRB) postponed proceedings against Oberlander until March 19, at the earliest, after a federal judge ordered a review, citing the defense's arguments regarding health issues and potential civil rights violations.
IRB spokesperson Anna Pape told Sputnik that there are no hearings scheduled in the case for the foreseeable future.
In an interview with Sputnik, international criminal lawyer John Philpot warned that Canadian deportation proceedings against former Nazi Helmut Oberlander could be prolonged for up to an additional two years after the country's Federal Court ordered a stay of hearings, noting the significance of a review being granted, considering that only 3 to 4 percent of deportation cases are reviewed.
The veteran attorney said the defense's strategy is to prolong the case until the 96-year-old's death.
Legal representatives for Oberlander declined or have not responded to multiple requests for an interview.
The 96-year-old Oberlander has been embroiled in legal battle with the Canadian government since 1995, when the latter began trying to strip Ukrainian-born ex-SS member of his citizenship, citing his failure to disclose his links to death squads. After a lengthy legal battle, Oberlander was stripped of his citizenship for the fourth time and final time in 2017 and Canada's Supreme Court issued a ruling last December that blocked any possibility for Oberlander to appeal this decision.
An adjudicator ruled in October that the IRB has the jurisdiction to pursue the deportation of Oberlander, concluding that no abuse of process had occurred.
Additionally, Oberlander faces legal scrutiny in Russia, where investigators say that Oberlander was complicit in the World War II massacre of 27,000 civilians, including orphaned children, in Russia's Rostov region. Federal Security Service (FSB) files obtained by Sputnik revealed that Oberlander, a former interpreter for the Sonderkommando SS-10A death squad, played a role in the massacre.
Russia's Investigative Committee has sent a request to the Canadian authorities to provide legal materials related to the probe of Oberlander's role in the massacre.
However, in an interview with Sputnik in December, the Russian Embassy in Ottawa said the Canadian government did not request documents related to the case and has refused to cooperate despite Moscow's request for legal assistance. The Russian Embassy added that "influential defenders" are working to delay former Nazi's deportation process.
