Suspected war criminal says he is victim of Jewish pressure

MOSCOW, Feb. 18 (JTA) — A suspected war criminal living in Lithuania is charging that he is a victim of international Jewish pressure. Aleksandras Lileikis, 91, who made the comment in a television interview, said he is being brought to trial because the Baltic nation has caved into pressure from Jewish groups. Lileikis is suspected of having handed Jews over to death squads in the capital of Vilnius during World War II, when he was deputy head of the Nazi-sponsored Lithuanian security police. In the interview, he said he was being “sacrificed” for Lithuania’s political interests and termed the charge that he was responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Jews a “provocation.” The interview was lambasted by the local Jewish community as biased. During the Nazi occupation of Lithuania from 1941-1944, approximately 94 percent of Lithuania’s prewar Jewish community of 240,000 died in the Holocaust. Historians say the scale of the tragedy could have been smaller had ordinary Lithuanians not helped with the killings. Lithuania’s willingness to move against suspected war criminals living in their midst has long been questioned by Jewish officials. Lileikis, who immigrated to the United States in 1955, was stripped of his U.S. citizenship in May 1996. He returned to Lithuania a month later, proclaiming that he was innocent. He is one of several Lithuanians targeted by Nazi hunters for their alleged role in the Holocaust. Lithuanian prosecutors filed charges of genocide against Lileikis two weeks ago, after months of speculation that Lithuania was unwilling to prosecute suspected war criminals. The trial is likely to begin in March, but an exact date has yet to be set. It would be the first trial for Holocaust crimes in any of the three Baltic states since they gained their independence from the Soviet Union seven years ago. Last year, Lithuania changed its laws to allow for the prosecution of suspected war criminals regardless of their state of health. According to Lithuania’s criminal code, the penalty for genocide is five to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property. In some cases, a life sentence may be imposed. But prosecutors say it is unlikely that Lileikis would receive a life sentence because of his poor health. In his television appearance, Lileikis was shown lying on a bed in his Vilnius home. The interview was recorded after Lileikis returned from a hospital last week, following treatment from a stroke he reportedly had earlier this year. Lileikis said he expects to be found guilty if the court recognizes as authentic the documents obtained by prosecutors, who recently announced that they had obtained papers signed by Lileikis authorizing the transfer of dozens of Jews into Nazi hands. Reacting to the televised interview, the leader of Lithuania’s Jewish community said it was meant to stir up public sympathy for Lileikis. “There was not a word in the broadcast about the wartime Jewish tragedy,” Simonas Alperavicius said in a telephone interview. “Only one side of the issue has been shown.” He added that the Jewish community was going to file a protest with the non-governmental Commission on Ethics in Journalism.