MOSCOW, March 4 (JTA) — The war crimes trial of a Lithuanian accused of being a Nazi collaborator has begun in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. On the first day of the trial, the lawyer for Aleksandras Lileikis, who is accused of having handed Jews over to Nazi death squads during World War II, asked that charges be dropped against his client for lack of evidence. Speaking in court Wednesday, defense lawyer Algirdas Matuiza insisted that Lileikis had not only never persecuted Jews but had rescued a Jewish woman during World War II. The Lileikis case is 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. During the Nazi occupation of Lithuania from 1941 to 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. Lileikis has said that in 1944 — while he was head of the Nazi-sponsored Lithuanian security police — he saved a young Jewish woman from death in Nazi-occupied Vilnius. The woman, Shifra Grodnikaite, is reportedly living in the United States or Israel, but investigators have been unable to locate her. The court was expected to announce its decision Thursday on the lawyer’s motion. Before the session was opened, some people held up posters in the courtroom supporting Lileikis. Local Jewish officials said they feared the trial could lead to a rise of anti- Semitism in Lithuania, adding that they would not attend court hearings to avoid possible clashes with ultranationalists. Lileikis, 91, is being tried in absentia. Earlier this year, he reportedly had a stroke, and Lithuanian officials said it would be difficult for him to attend court sessions. Last year, Lithuania changed its laws to allow for the prosecution of suspected war criminals regardless of their health. According to Lithuania’s criminal code, the penalty for genocide is five to 15 years in prison. 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.
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