The Simon Wiesenthal
Center revealed today that the Latvian government had indicated
that it planned to take disciplinary measures against a prosecutor
who had harassed a Latvian citizen who had submitted information
regarding a suspected Latvian Nazi war criminal to the Center
in the framework of its “Operation: Last Chance.” In
the case in question, the prosecutor Vija Popova had pressured
Bauska resident Larissa Grekova to sign a false affidavit
indicating that she has no evidence whatsoever against a
suspected Latvian Nazi war criminal whose name she had submitted
to the Center based on survivor testimony. When Grekova refused
to sign the affidavit, Popova asked her whether she or her
mother were Jewish (neither is) and reprimanded her for ”compromising
Latvia” by submitting information to the Simon Wiesenthal
Center. Upon learning of this incident from Grekova, the
Center’s chief Nazi-hunter Dr. Efraim Zuroff immediately
submitted a protest of Popova’s conduct to Latvian
General Prosecutor Janis Maizitis.
Zuroff met on Friday in Riga with Maizitis and leading Justice
Ministry officials who informed him that the ministry had
just completed an inquiry into his complaint and that Popova
would be brought before a panel of eleven senior prosecutors
who would recommend a punishment ranging from dismissal to
censure. In response, Zuroff welcomed the decision, but cautioned
that it had to be determined whether Popova acted on her
own or was following guidelines established by her superiors,
a question which was only natural given Latvia’s failure
to prosecute a single Latvian Nazi war criminal since it
regained its independence in 1991.
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