The New York Times

Friday, September 10, 1999

Lithuania WWII Crimes Trial Blocked

By The Associated Press

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) -- The first Nazi war crimes trial in the former Soviet Union effectively ended before it ever really began when judges on Friday postponed the proceedings indefinitely because of the defendant's health.

Judges said Aleksandras Lileikis, 92, was too ill to stand trial and that the case could resume only after his health improved. Lawyers say there's virtually no chance judges will ever restart the trial given Lileikis' age and condition.

The ruling came a day after the court rejected calls for a new medical examination to ensure Lileikis wasn't feigning illness. Judges said there were no grounds to doubt earlier findings that the stress of a trial would endanger Lileikis's life.

Lileikis is charged with genocide for allegedly sending scores of Jews to their deaths when he headed the Vilnius security police during the 1941-44 Nazi occupation; prosecutors say many of his victims were executed in open pits in a forest just outside Lithuania's capital.

Lileikis emigrated to the United States in 1955, and lived in the Boston area for 40 years. He returned to Lithuania in 1996 as a U.S. court was moving to revoke his citizenship and deport him.

Lileikis appeared at the first day of his trial last year sitting in a wheelchair and wearing a neck brace. After saying he was innocent, he began gasping for air and was rushed to a hospital; he never reappeared in court.

After regaining independence from Moscow in 1991, Lithuania promised to do all it could to prosecute and convict Lithuanians who participated in the massacre of some 240,000 Jews during Nazi rule.

So far, however, not a single trial has gotten underway. A second Nazi trial, of Kazys Gimzauskas, was started after Lileikis's, but was also suspended for medical reasons.

Jewish groups have accused authorities of purposely dragging their feet, saying Lithuanians are hoping alleged war criminals die so the Baltic state can avoid having to confront one of the darkest eras in its history.