VILNIUS - The Prosecutor General's Office announced it would appeal against the verdict in the case of Algimantas Mykolas Dailide and seek that the defendant, who was found guilty of participating in crimes against Jews, be forced to serve a prison sentence. The Baltic News Service reported that in the appeal, which will soon reach court, prosecutors will ask to impose a real sentence of five years' imprisonment on Dailide.
In the prosecutors' opinion, Dailide should not be exempted from criminal liability.
The defendant's lawyer, Algirdas Matuiza, was also set to lodge an appeal. He said that he would ask the Court of Appeals to cancel the Vilnius District Court's ruling and acquit Dailide of all charges.
In late March, the Vilnius court found Dailide, a former employee of Lithuania's Security Police, guilty of having participated in crimes against Jews in Nazi-occupied Lithuania during World War II. The court, however, failed to impose a jail sentence upon the 85-year-old.
The verdict has been strongly criticized by Israel and the United States.
In 1941-1944, Dailide worked for the Vilnius district office of Lithuania's Security Police, a repressive structure controlled by the Nazis. While testifying, he claimed that he was only an office clerk; however, according to archival documents, in 1941 he worked as a criminal police inspector and later a police officer.
Dailide pleaded not guilty.
Historians say the Security Police were subordinate to German authorities, and indirectly participated in the Jewish genocide, arresting Jews and looking for those trying to escape death.
According to the Act of Indictment, Dailide participated in the November 1941 arrests of Jewish nationals, and arrested two Jews who had escaped from the Vilnius ghetto.
Dailide lived in Germany after being deported from the United States in 2003. In 1950, he arrived in the United States, telling immigration authorities he had worked as a forester during the war. After his role in the Holocaust came to light, a court revoked his U.S. citizenship.
