PHILADELPHIA – An elderly Nazi war crimes suspect will remain jailed in Philadelphia as part of a German criminal case after a U.S. judge denied him bail.
Defense lawyers say 89-year-old Johann Breyer is in frail health and deteriorating in prison as he battles heart disease and dementia.
German authorities have charged Breyer with being an accessory to murder for his service at the Auschwitz death camp in 1944.
Breyer says he was forced to work there as a guard, but never took part in the mass killing of Jews and others.
Breyer has lived in Philadelphia since 1952, and survived earlier efforts to be stripped of his naturalized American citizenship.
His extradition hearing is scheduled for Aug. 21. German authorities hope to try him on the criminal charges in Weiden, Bavaria.
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