Riga, April 9, 2003 -The
Simon Wiesenthal Center today announced at a press conference in
the Latvian capital that it had already received the names of some
37 suspected Latvian Holocaust perpetrators in response to its "Operation:Last
Chance," a project launched together with the Targum Shlishi
Foundation of Miami, Florida, which offered financial rewards for
information which would lead to the conviction and punishment of
Baltic Nazi war criminals. According to the Center's chief Nazi-hunter
Dr. Efraim Zuroff,who coordinates "Operation:Last Chance," the
information came from 18 informants and relates to crimes which
were committed in various cities, towns, and villages all over
Latvia. Although several of the suspects were already dead, quite
a few were reported to be alive and these cases are currently being
investigated by the Center's researchers prior to their submission
to the Latvian prosecutors. Several of the suspects have escaped
to Sweden, Australia, Canada, and the United States.
"
We are working against the clock and have to do whatever we can to
facilitate the investigation and prosecution of these cases.The information
received in the framework of "Operation:Last Chance" is
information which otherwise would never have reached us and offers
new possibilities to facilitate the prosecution of Holocaust perpetrators
who should have been convicted and punished decades ago," said
Zuroff, who has played an active role in tracking down Baltic Nazi
war criminals ever since Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia regained
their independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Zuroff noted that not a single Baltic Holocaust perpetrator had sat
for even one minute in jail since the Baltic countries had obtained
independence and called upon the local governments to exhibit the
political will necessary to mount such trials. "Ultimately,
such legal proceedings could have a very positive effect on the willingness
of these societies to face their bloody Holocaust pasts. Given the
fact that local participation in Holocaust crimes in the Baltics
was among the most extensive in Europe the potential importance of
such trials should not be minimized," said Zuroff
|