TALLINN - Security police have launched an investigation into alleged war crimes involving the slaughter of civilians in the Estonian countryside in the summer of 1941.
The investigation was prompted after a member of the public contacted prosecutors with his own research into killings in the village of Metsakivi in Tartumaa county.
According to the researcher's information, members of the Red Army's so-called 'destruction battalion' massacred an unknown number of civilians while retreating from the German invasion. Among the dead was an entire family, including a three-year old boy.
It is the first such investigation launched in recent years. Prosecutors said it would have been impossible without the assistance of the researcher, who wishes to remain anonymous.
"He had some information about the killing of civilians. It's quite rare that a person does that kind of work," a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor's office said.
"War crimes have no time limitation. If any new information is found, then a criminal investigation can be launched. It's a question of finding out who is responsible. It is possible that those people are not alive anymore. It's also difficult to find people who were alive during those times to gather evidence."
The Security Police Board, known as Kapo, will now check the research and see if anyone can be held accountable for the murders.
It is believed the killings were undertaken as part of Stalin's infamous "scorched earth" policy, under which the Red Army formed destruction battalions and ordered the execution of deserters and their families.
Meanwhile, Kapo has also been called to investigate a proposed war memorial in the nearby township of Vara.
On July 30 the Vara local government abandoned plans to open a memorial to victims of fascism after it was discovered some of the people honored in the monument could have taken part in reprisals against local residents.
Vara governor Andres Karp told local media that the finished monument had been inscribed with a message different from the one that had been approved.
Kapo will now investigate whether the list of inscribed names includes people involved in the repression of Estonians during the early years of the Soviet occupation.
