Lithuanian Prosecutor General's Office has launched an investigation into another case of annihilation of Jews during the Nazi rule over the Baltic state in World War II.

Liudvikas Sabutis, deputy to the senior prosecutor of the Special Investigations Service, told BNS that the case addresses the killing of at least 20 Jews in spring 1942 in the village of Seirijai, southern Lithuania.

According to preliminary information, the Jews were killed by German soldiers with assistance from local Lithuanian residents.

In Sabutis' words, the witness who reported the crime to the authorities named to persons involved in the killings.

Lithuanian prosecutors have learned that one of the suspects was charged of war crimes during the Soviet rule and later died in the Siberia, and the second one emigrated to the United States and possibly passed away there.

Sabutis noted that the probe was started on the basis of a report received from an unnamed Lithuanian man on Oct. 21, The prosecutor also mentioned that the investigation into the massacre of Jews in Gruzdziai, northern Lithuania, has also been reopened.

The prosecutor also mentioned that the investigation into the massacre of Jews in Gruzdziai, northern Lithuania, has also been reopened.

Efraim Zuroff, the head of the Jerusalem office of the Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Center, reportedly announced a bonus of 10,000 U.S. dollars in Vilnius in July for any information leading to arraignment of Nazi war criminals.

Zuroff called the initiative Operation Last Chance, saying that Lithuania has been procrastinating the administration of justice to Nazi criminals.

In his words, the center has received from Lithuania a list of 47 persons who could be suspected of war crimes since the prize was announced. Names of three Estonian and one Latvian resident have also reached the center.

However, none of the persons who provided the names of potential suspects has so far asked for the promised monetary prize, said Simonas Alperavicius, the head of the Lithuanian Jewish Community.

In his words, Lithuanian people have already reacted to the repeated call for assistance in arraigning perpetrators of genocide against Jews published in the Lithuanian press the past weekend.

Lithuania's largest dailies published an ad last Saturday, saying that the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Targun Shlishi foundation are offering 10,000 U.S. dollars for information allowing to charge and sentence Nazi war criminals.

"Lithuanian Jews did not disappear. They were butchered in Paneriai (Vilnius), Fort 9 (Kaunas) and Kuziai (Siauliai)," reads the advertisement.

The large ad was illustrated by a documentary photograph Jewish massacre, showing bodies of murdered Jews, uniformed German soldiers and their helpers dressed in civilian outfits.

According to the advertisement, any information about killers of Jews should be mailed to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Prosecutor General's Office.

Almost 90 percent of Lithuania's pre-war Jewish community of 220,000 perished during the Nazi rule after World War II.