Deportation Hearing for Ex-Nazi Oberlander Set for 7-10 September

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Deportation hearings against former Nazi Helmut Oberlander will be resumed by Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) on 7 September.

The deportation proceedings against the former death squad member were put on hold earlier in 2021 after a federal judge ordered a review, citing arguments by the defence regarding health issues and potential civil rights violations.

Oberlander, 96, has been embroiled in a legal battle with the Canadian government since 1995, when the latter began trying to strip the Ukrainian-born ex-SS member of his citizenship, citing his failure to disclose his links to the 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 he 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 into Oberlander's role in the massacre.