"An application to dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction was made by counsel for Mr. Oberlander and is currently before the Immigration Division of the IRB", Pape said on Tuesday. "The Division is in the process of determining this application, and, at this time, is waiting to receive additional submissions on this matter; they are due on or before 28 February 2020".
On Friday, Russia’s Investigative Committee sent a request to Canadian authorities to provide legal materials related to Oberlander, 96, a translator in a Nazi Einsatzgruppen death squad that Russia accuses of organizing a massacre of orphans in the Russian city of Yeysk during World War II.
Russia’s Investigative Committee is trying to assess Oberlander's role in the crime against humanity, which the committee noted does not have a statute of limitations, in accordance with the 1945 Charter of the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg.
Should the case proceed, an admissibility hearing would be scheduled to determine whether the allegations against Oberlander are founded, only after which a deportation order could be issued.
According to the spokesperson, there have been a number of applications from the parties to the proceeding, including for extension of time, last by Oberlander's counsel.
On Monday, Oberlander's lawyer, Ron Poulton, said that the deportation proceedings against his client have begun but are far from over.
The Canadian government began trying to strip Ukrainian-born Oberlander of his Canadian citizenship in 1995, citing the fact that he failed to disclose his links to the death squads. This led to a lengthy legal battle. The former Nazi was stripped of his citizenship for the fourth time in 2017 and Canada’s Supreme Court issued a ruling last December that blocked any possibility for Oberlander to appeal this decision.