World Briefly 5/13

John Demjanjuk challenges allegations of beixng Nazi death camp guard

MUNICH (AP) " Sitting in a wheelchair and breathing through a nasal tube, retired auto worker John Demjanjuk listened silently Tuesday as a German judge read a 21-page warrant accusing him of acting as an accessory to the murder of 29,000 people at a Nazi death camp.

Prosecutors in Munich made clear they hope to press ahead quickly with the case against the 89-year-old, saying after the longtime Ohio resident arrived in Germany that formal charges could be filed within weeks.

Demjanjuk said nothing as an interpreter translated the warrant into his native Ukrainian, his lawyer Guenther Maull told reporters afterward.

"He understood what was being read to him," said Maull, who immediately filed a challenge against the warrant, arguing the evidence was not solid and Germany's jurisdiction questionable.

Demjanjuk says he was a Red Army soldier who spent World War II as a Nazi POW and never hurt anyone.

Army opens mental health probe as soldier charged in killings of 5 comrades in Baghdad

BAGHDAD (AP) " The U.S. military command launched an investigation Tuesday into whether it offers adequate mental health care to its soldiers, a day after a sergeant finishing up his third tour of Iraq allegedly shot and killed five comrades at a clinic on a U.S. base.

Sgt. John M. Russell, 44, of Sherman, Texas, was taken into custody outside a mental health clinic at Camp Liberty following Monday's shooting and charged with five counts of murder and one of aggravated assault, Maj. Gen. David Perkins said.

The case, the deadliest of the war involving soldier-on-soldier violence, has cast a spotlight on combat stress and emotional problems resulting from frequent deployments to battle zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Up to one-fifth of the more than 1.7 million who have served in the two conflicts are believed to have symptoms of anxiety, depression and other emotional problems. Some studies show that about half of those who need help do not seek it.