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.
For more information call: 972-51-214156
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