Wiesenthal Center Protests Failure of Romanian Judicial Authorities to Complete Investigation of Four "Operation: Last Chance" S

The Simon Wiesenthal Center  protested the failure of the Romanian judicial authorities to complete their investigation of four suspected Romanian Nazi war criminals whose names were discovered in the framework of the Center's "Operation: Last Chance" project, which offers financial rewards for information which facilitates the prosecution and punishment of Holocaust perpetrators. The project, which was launched by the Center's chief Nazi-hunter Dr. Efraim Zuroff in Bucharest in September 2003, yielded the names of eighteen suspects, four of which were submitted sixteen months ago to Romanian Prosecutor-General Dr. Ilie Botos. The four individuals in question are suspected of participation in the murder of Jews in Bucharest, Iasi, Dorohoi, Odessa and other places during World War II. In letters sent today to Romanian special prosecutor Angela Nicolae and recently to Prosecutor-General Dr. Botos, Zuroff expressed "grave concern" regarding the failure of the Romanian prosecution to complete the investigations and warned that "every day which passes without legal action being taken brings these suspected Nazi war criminals closer to eluding justice." According to Zuroff: "It would be a mockery of the memory of the victims of the Holocaust in Romania if those responsible for their deaths were not held accountable due to the failure of the Romanian judicial system to bring them to trial."