Germany's highest court says it has thrown out a request to block the trial of John Demjanjuk on charges he was an accessory to the murder of thousands at a death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.

The Federal Constitutional Court said Wednesday that it rejected complaints from Demjanjuk's lawyer against decisions to open the trial in Munich on Nov. 30 and to keep the 89-year-old retired Cleveland area autoworker in custody.

He maintains that he was a Red Army soldier who was held as a prisoner of war and never hurt anyone.