Demjanjuk pronounced fit to stand trial in Germany

By Erik Kirschbaum and Madeline Chambers

BERLIN (Reuters) - Accused Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk has been deemed fit enough by medical experts to stand trial for helping to kill 29,000 Jews in World War Two, the state prosecutors office in Munich said Friday.

Demjanjuk, 89, deported to Germany from the United States, has been held in a jail near Munich since May 12. His trial is expected to be Germany's final major Nazi-era war crimes case.

After examining Demjanjuk, medical experts placed only one condition on their stamp of approval for the trial to proceed

-- that court appearances be limited to two 90-minute sessions a day, the state prosecutors office said in a statement.

They said they expect charges to be raised against Demjanjuk in July. Both prosecutors and Demjanjuk's defence attorney, Guenther Maull, said the trial may begin by the autumn.

Ukrainian-born Demjanjuk tops the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's list of its 10 most-wanted suspected war criminals.

But he denies any role in the Holocaust, in which about 6 million Jewish people died, and his family has fought efforts to put him on trial, arguing he was too frail.

His son criticised the decision and said German doctors had found Demjanjuk had only about 16 months to live due to an incurable leukemic bone marrow disease.