The department handed over the investigation material to the office of the prosecutor general, which will begin criminal prosecution.
The state security department reported that the decision was based on the conclusions of a group of specialists that the articles under the titles of "Jews, the theory of communism and the practicing of it," and "Will Jews rule Lithuania?" published in the daily on Oct. 8, contain criminal elements as defined in the criminal code of Lithuania: incitement against a national, ethnic, religious or other group.
The owner and director of the daily, Algirdas Pilvelis, was questioned on Oct. 26 by the department's officers with regard to anti-Semitic articles published in the daily.
According to Baltic News Service sources, Pilvelis said at the questioning that the editor and the responsible secretary of the daily were responsible for the appearance of the articles in the daily opinion column. He said that both of them had been strictly reprimanded.
The anti-Semitic articles published in the daily question the necessity to prosecute war criminals. The Jewish nation stands accused of inventing Marxism and putting its doctrines into practice. Jewish people are also accused of spreading communism and "sovietizing" Lithuania.
The state security department concluded that one of the articles was signed by Juozas Valionis, Viktorija Zygaite and Paulius Stonys - all pseudonyms. According to department sources, these people do not exist in Lithuania.
The real author of the article and the director of the daily are facing legal responsibility for inciting ethnic discord.
The Lithuanian president and prime minister, as well as the Lithuanian Jewish community and some professional organizations of journalists, strongly condemned the anti-Semitic attacks in the daily.
The daily Lietuvos Aidas has a circulation of about 10,000. It is available nationwide and considers itself a right-wing newspaper.
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