A Latvian newspaper has published advertisements offering a $10,000 reward for
information leading to the trial and conviction of Nazi war
criminals.
The advertisements are part of a campaign called "Operation
Last Chance" launched by the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, which hunts Nazi
criminals.
About 80,000 Jews were killed by the Nazis
and local collaborators in Latvia between 1941 and 1944. Thousands
of Jews from other European countries were also sent to Latvia
for execution.
But Latvia has not prosecuted any Nazi suspects since it regained
independence in 1991.
The ads, showing a grainy photo of Jews being led to their
execution, say "those
who are responsible... must be punished".
They give phone numbers for the Latvian chief prosecutor's
office and the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
Prosecutors in the former Soviet republic say gathering evidence
against the few surviving suspects has been difficult.
"
If anyone comes forward with information we are ready to investigate," said
Dzintra Subrovska, a spokeswoman for the Latvian Prosecutor
General's Office.
Similar ads were published in neighbouring Lithuania late last
year and others will be run in Estonian newspapers later this
month.
Of Latvia's 95,000 pre-war Jewish population, barely 4,000
survived the Holocaust.
URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2670791.stm ________________________________________________________________________ | 
