LITHUANAIA: 85 year old Lithuanian Algimantas Dailide goes free despite WW2 crimes conviction

Record ID: 206389

  • Title: LITHUANAIA: 85 year old Lithuanian Algimantas Dailide goes free despite WW2 crimes conviction
  • Date: 28th March 2006
  • Summary: CLOSE UP OF JEWISH TORA
  • Embargoed: 12th April 2006 13:00
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  • Reuters ID: LVA3PRSM4HJ5U7MNYVHKURHNCUQS
  • Story Text: A Lithuanian court convicted an 85-year-old man of crimes against Jews during World War Two on Monday (March 27), but handed down no sentence as the judge said he was too old and no longer represented a threat to society.
    The case of Algimantas Dailide, who said he was only a humble clerk for the Nazi-backed secret police, has revived memories of the genocide in Lithuania which all but wiped out the country's more than 200,000 Jews.
    The judge found him guilty of seizing the property of Jews and arresting 12 who were fleeing the Vilnius ghetto, but declined the prosecutor's demand for a 5-year jail term.
    "I never felt guilty. In my opinion everyone involved in my lawsuit understands that I am not guilty," Dailide said after the verdict.
    Dailide's lawyer, Algirdas Matuza, was not satisfied with the conviction, but said no decision had been made about an appeal.
    "We were expecting another end to this lawsuit, because there was no evidence. We'd hoped for an acquittal, but that's not what the court decided. It is not clear if Dailide will have the strength or be healthy enough to appeal this decision," he said.
    Some have accused Lithuania of dragging its heels over prosecuting war criminals. Two other men have been charged with war crimes, but were ruled too old or too ill for their cases to be continued or to be punished.
    Only 6 percent of Lithuania's Jews are estimated to have survived the war. Around 55,000 were killed in Vilnius, which was once a vibrant centre of Jewish life called the "Jerusalem of the North".
    The Chairman of the Lithuanian Jewish Community, Simonas Alperavicius said he was satisfied with the verdict.
    "But I was surprised that Dailide wasn't brave enough to plead guilty. He had more courage in 1943 when Jews were being killed, and now his courage has disappeared. I think if he had pleaded guilty, the verdict would have been the same," he said.
    There were no witnesses against Dailide, who admitted volunteering for Lithuania's Nazi-backed secret police, the Saugumas, but said he was only a clerk.
    Dailide now lives in Germany and came voluntarily to Vilnius for the trial, which Jewish groups called a milestone.
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