The Nazi-hunting
Simon Wiesenthal Center said on Monday it has received the
names of 184 Lithuanians suspected of Holocaust-related crimes
since it offered a reward for information a year ago.
"The results achieved during the first year of the
operation 'Last Chance in Lithuania' are the best proof of
the significance of this project," Efraim Zuroff, the
project coordinator said in a statement.
"Most of the names submitted to us were unknown and
they constitute an important addition to our knowledge of
the identity of the perpetrators of the Holocaust," he
added.
He said 32 names of suspects had been submitted for formal
investigation to the Baltic state's public prosecutor and
two official murder investigations had already been opened
by the Lithuanian authorities.
Under its Last Chance project launched a year ago the organisation
offered a 10,000 dollar reward for information which could
lead to the conviction and punishment of Holocaust criminals
in the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
To date the Center has not given a financial reward to informants
in Lithuania but said it promises to do so "as soon
as there is an official murder investigation against any
suspect healthy enough to stand trial".
About 90 percent of Lithuania's pre-war 220,000-strong Jewish
community perished during the Holocaust.
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