Wiesenthal Center Protests Lithuanian Court's Refusal to Punish Ex-Policeman It Convicted for Holocaust Crimes

March 27, 2006

Wiesenthal Center Protests  Lithuanian Court's Refusal to Punish Ex-Policeman It Convicted for Holocaust Crimes

The Simon Wiesenthal Center severely criticized the decision issued today by a Lithuanian court not to punish former Security Police operative, Algimantas Dailide after it convicted him of actively participating in the persecution of innocent civilians, Jews and Poles during the Holocaust.

The Center's Nazi-hunter, Israel director Dr. Efraim Zuroff,  said the decision not to implement the verdict of 5 years imprisonment, "Makes a mockery of efforts to hold Nazi war criminals accountable and makes Lithuania the safest haven in the world for a local Nazi war criminal."

Dr. Zuroff added, "The Dailide case will now be added to those of his superiors in the Saugumas (Lithuanian Security Police) of the Vilnius district, Aleksandras Lileikis and Kazys Gimzauskas, who despite active participation in Nazi war crimes, never sat a single minute in jail for their crimes. This dismal record is unequivocal proof that Lithuania is totally incapable of honestly dealing with the complicity of its own nationals in the mass murder of Lithuanian Jewry."
 

For more information call 011-972-50-7214156, or go to: www.wiesenthal.com