The Jerusalem bureau of the Simon Wiesenthal Center has expressed its dissatisfaction over the closure of investigation into alleged participation of Vladimir Gorshkov in Holocaust crimes in Belarus during WWII.

In an October 25 statement, the organization's director Efraim Zuroff called the decision to acquit the former Gestapo translator “typical of the total failure since independence of the Estonian authorities to hold local Holocaust perpetrators accountable for their crimes.”

"One can only wonder why a person convicted in the United States suddenly has his identity questioned in Estonia?" the statement reads, referring to the reason given by the State Prosecutor's Office for closing the case, namely, that the evidence collected cannot rule out the possibility of there having been an individual of the same name or a similiar name (Gorschkow in German) working for Nazi authorities.

In 2002, the state of Florida retracted Tallinn-born Gorshkov's citzenship for providing false data to immigration authorities, and Gorshkov returned to Estonia. Contrary to the statement, he was not convicted in the US.

Gorshkov was under investigation in Estonia since 2003.

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