German prosecutors yesterday said John Demjanjuk, 90, should serve six years in jail for helping to kill 27,900 Jews during his alleged time as a Nazi death camp guard, as the trial neared an end.

Summing up in the high-profile war crimes case, expected to be one of the last of its kind, prosecutor Hans-Joachim Lutz said Mr Demjanjuk had participated willingly in the Holocaust during a six-month stint as a guard.

“Armed with a weapon, he transported the victims from the wagons, undressed them and led them into the gas chambers,” Dr Lutz told the court in Munich, southern Germany. “He participated willingly in the murder of 27,900 Jews.”

There is “no reasonable doubt” of Mr Demjanjuk’s involvement in the crimes committed at the Sobibor camp in Nazi-occupied Poland during March and September 1943 when he was alleged to have been there, added the prosecutor.

Ukrainian-born Mr Demjanjuk, who was deported from the US in May 2009, where he worked for decades as a mechanic, denies the charges against him.

A verdict in the case could come as soon as May 12, although there have been several delays, due mainly to Mr Demjanjuk’s poor health.

Wearing his now familiar blue baseball cap and sunglasses, the accused was wheeled into the courtroom, accompanied by two medical staff, to hear the prosecution’s case.­­­­­

He appeared relaxed and joked with one of the medics. He listened to proceedings sitting up on a stretcher, covered in a white sheet.

He did not react when the prosecutor called for the six-year sentence. Ulrich Busch, his lawyer, said he would demand his client walk free.