PHILADELPHIA — An 89-year-old Nazi war crimes suspect has died, the night before a judge ruled that he should be extradited to Germany to face trial, his lawyer said Wednesday.
Johann Breyer died Tuesday night at a Philadelphia hospital, attorney Dennis Boyle said Wednesday, the same day that US Magistrate Timothy Rice approved the extradition request. The ruling would have been subject to a final US government review.
Breyer was hospitalized Saturday. His lawyer said his health had deteriorated but he didn’t know the cause of death.
Rice had found probable cause that ‘‘Breyer, the individual before this court, is the same person sought for aiding and abetting murder in Germany.’’
‘‘No statute of limitations offers a safe haven for murder,’’ he wrote.
Breyer, a retired tool-and-die maker, was being held on allegations stemming from his suspected service as an SS guard at Auschwitz during World War II.
US marshals arrested him in June outside his home in northeast Philadelphia. He was facing charges of aiding in the killing of 216,000 Jewish men, women, and children at the Nazi death camp.