TORONTO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th September, 2021) Deportation hearings against former Nazi Helmut Oberlander by Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) began on Tuesday.
In first of the four-day hearing, the defense introduced a motion to conduct the admissibility hearing against the former death squad member in private, barring members of the media and public from observing the proceedings. However, IRB Immigration Division member Karen Greenwood dismissed the motion put forth by Oberlander, the immigration board's spokesperson said in a statement to reporters.
In the application, Oberlander's legal counsel, Ronald Poulton cited threats to the former Nazi's family following each publication of stories reporting on the ongoing deportation process.
The media reports have triggered a wave of death threats, compelling the family to seek assistance from the Waterloo Regional Police Service, Oberlander's new designated representative, grandson Jamie Rooney, said in a sworn affidavit.
"Each time the media issues a story about my grandfather, we receive unsolicited and often threatening messages by email and on social media platforms. Over the last 8 to 10 months, these messages have become more threatening and frequent," Rooney said.
Additionally, Rooney noted Russian government "interest" in the case and expressed "deep concern" about the "continued inaccuracy and content of Russian media reporting" of the case.
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.
Rooney said the Canadian government "never made this allegation."
Oberlander's legal team also introduced supplementary arguments to the bid to have the former death squad member's deportation hearings halted, claiming his debilitated physical state renders him unable to mount a defense against the allegations he is accused of.
According to a report drafted by Oberlander's physician, the 97-year-old is not expected to "survive much beyond the summer" and has lost most cognitive function.
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.
