Washington  - A war-crimes suspect from the Nazi era, John Demjanjuk, has filed a last minute emergency court motion to stop his deportation to Germany, where he is expected to be prosecuted for his alleged role in assisting in the killing 29,000 Jews, a newspaper reported Friday.

Demjanjuk, who turned 89 on Friday, was to be picked up by federal agents and flown to Munich for a Monday arrival, German justice officials have said.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that Demjanjuk, who is physically ailing, filed an emergency motion Thursday in US Immigration Court in Arlington, Virginia.

The motion claims transporting him to Germany would be the equivalent of torture because of his age and medical problems, which his German lawyer says include kidney stones and a bone marrow disease.

A local immigration attorney in Ohio, David Leopold, told the Plain Dealer that the filing of the motion would not be likely to stop his deportation, since an immigration judge or federal court judge would have to rule on it to postpone it.

Ulrich Staudigl, a spokesman for the Justice Ministry in Berlin, said Thursday, "The way things are looking now, I can confirm that Demjanjuk will probably arrive in Munich on Monday."

Munich prosecutors issued a warrant three weeks ago for the arrest of the Ukrainian-born man, who has been stripped on his US citizenship and is now stateless.

Germany suspects him of working as a Nazi guard at Sobibor concentration camp, at a location which is now part of Poland, while at least 29,000 Jews were put to death there.

Demjanjuk was acquitted in 1993 by the Israeli Supreme Court of charges that he worked at a different death camp, Treblinka, saving from the death sentence of a lower court.

Guenther Maull, the German defence lawyer, said he expected his client would be kept in the medical-care department of Stadelheim Prison in Munich, but he could be also be moved to the secure wing of a hospital at suburban Straubing if his health deteriorated.

German evidence suggests Demjanjuk, then 23, was a guard at Sobibor from March till the end of September 1943. After the Second World War he lived in Germany as a refugee. In 1952 he changed his first name from Ivan to John and moved to the United States.

Washington cannot prosecute him over the allegations, but has been eager to expel the former US car worker.

A senior Munich prosecutor, Manfred Noetzel, said last week that a war crimes trial involving Demjanjuk was likely to require a major effort and a lot of time. dpa