Concentration camp
Photo: Reuters
Lithuania: 85-year-old Nazi evades prison
Algimantas Dailide convicted for arresting 12 Jews trying to escape from Ghetto Vilna. Court's says he is 'not a danger to society'
An 85-year-old Lithuanian was convicted for cooperating with the Nazis and persecuting Jews but he will not serve jail time because of his age, according to a BBC report.
Algimantas Dailide was convicted for the arrest of two polish nationals and 12 Jews while he served in the police during World War II. At that time, the local police was controlled the Nazi regime.
A court in Vilna ruled that Dailide will not go to jail "because he is very old and does not pose danger to society."
Officials at the Wiesenthal Center said they regret the court's decision.
The decision proves that Lithuania is unwilling to punish Nazi war criminals and is unwilling to face the involvement of its citizens in the mass killing of Jews, the Center said.
Dailide immigrated to the U.S. after the war, but was deported to Germany in 2004.
He denied the accusations against him and said he was only an administrator in the police. He was convicted, however, for the arrest of a dozen Jews, women and children included, who attempted to escape from the Vilna ghetto in the years 1941-1944. He was also convicted for the arrest of two Polish nationals who were jailed for political reasons.
Dailide is the third Nazi war criminal to stand trial in Lithuania since the country's separation from the former Soviet Union 15 years ago. The two other cases also concluded without prison time for either suspect. In one case it was determined that the suspect was too old to stand trial and in the other case, like Dailide's case, the suspect was convicted but was not jailed due to his age.
