The Simon Wiesenthal
Center announced today in Vilnius that it had already received
the names of 174 Lithuanians suspected of participation in the
rimes of the Holocaust in the framework of its "Operation:
Last Chance” launched in the Baltics exactly nine months
ago.
The program, which is being sponsored by the Center and the Targum
Shlishi Foundation of Miami, Florida, offered a financial reward
of $10,000 for information, which would lead to the conviction, and
punishment of Holocaust perpetrators in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia
featured large ads with graphic historical photos of the persecution
and murder of Jews in these areas.
The Center's chief Nazi-hunter Dr. Efraim Zuroff, who coordinates
the project, also announced at the press conference that he had just
been informed this morning by Lithuanian Special Prosecutor Rimvydas
Valentukevicius that Lithuania had recently opened an investigation
regarding the murder of Jews in the town of Rokiskis based on material
obtained by the Center in the framework of "O:LC." He also
noted that it was extremely likely that additional investigations
would be initiated by Lithuanian prosecutors in the coming weeks
based on new information which had recently been submitted to the
Center and was currently being checked by the Center's researchers.
Zuroff also announced a change in the financial rewards offered in the framework
of "O:LC." From now on, the Center would pay $1,000 for information,
which would lead to an official murder investigation against a suspect still
alive and healthy enough to stand trial. It would add an additional sum of $1,500
if an
indictment were submitted and would complete the sum of $10,000 if the suspects
were convicted and punished. "We hope that this change will lead additional
persons to supply us with the information necessary to bring the murderers of
Lithuanian Jewry to justice. Time is rapidly running out and the efforts to bring
the guilty to justice must be facilitated as quickly as possible,” said
Zuroff. Zuroff was joined at the press conference by Dr.Shimon Alperovich, Chairman
of the Lithuanian Jewish Community, who expressed his fullest support for "O:LC."
For more information call: 972-51-214156
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