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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 U.S. Magistrate Timothy Rice approved the extradition request. The ruling would still have been subject to a final U.S. government review.

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Breyer was hospitalized Saturday. His lawyer said his health had deteriorated but he didn’t know the cause of death.

The U.S. attorney’s office said it didn’t have any information yet on Breyer’s status.

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.