During the years of the wartime German occupation Mannil, who is of Estonian origin and currently residing in Venezuela, served in the Estonian security police, which helped the Gestapo to carry out arrests and executions of civilians, including Jews.
The evidence consists of extracts from the archives of the Swedish and Finnish security police, such as an immigration form Mannil completed in Finland. Another piece of evidence is the testimony of Uno Richard Andrusson, who worked with Mannil in the security police.
What now seems to be certain is that Mannil worked for the security police for eight months, not four as he previously stated. And, according to Andrusson, Mannil was promoted from assistant to senior assistant. Andrusson's testimony also mentions someone called Ilmar Ruuts as being one of Mannil's colleagues, and that Mannil took part in the deaths of up to 100 people himself.
"Our researchers have also revealed the fact that there is a person currently living in the U.S.A. who used to know Mannil in Estonia and can testify against him," added Zuroff.
Anne Osvet, Laar's press adviser, told the Postimees daily that the papers Zuroff had submitted to the prime minister were already known to the authorities in Estonia. These became known to U.S. officials, who got them from the present-day Estonian security police (created during the early 1990s to investigate military crimes and crimes against humanity) during a 1995 investigation against Mannil.
"There was nothing new about them," she said.
"The new findings reinforce the vital importance of establishing a special investigations commission for Nazi crimes in Estonia," said Zuroff in a written statement the day before the meeting with Laar.
At a press conference after the meeting, he said he was genuinely surprised to learn that such a unit already exists in Estonia but added that certain factors suggest it is not effective enough. "Mr. Laar declined to reveal the name of the person who heads the unit. That makes us think there is a lack of transparency in this investigation," said Zuroff.
Zuroff said Laar expressed his will to cooperate regarding Nazi crimes. "But as in many cases in the Baltics, saying the right thing and doing it are two different things."
He added: "I can't think of a better history lesson than Mannil facing trial in Estonia."
If Estonia's existing investigation unit finds Mannil, an Estonian citizen, guilty the state then can demand his extradition from Venezuela and try him in Estonia.
Mannil, 81, studied business administration at Tartu University and fled to Finland from Estonia in 1943. He then moved to Sweden, where he lived until 1946. After moving to Caracas, Venezuela, he joined the top management of Aco, one of the largest companies in the country, in 1954. Today, he is known internationally as one of the world's leading collectors of pre-Columbian American art.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center first accused Mannil of being connected to the executions of Jews 10 years ago. In December 1993, it persuaded President Lennart Meri to fire Mannil, who holds Estonian citizenship, from a position as director of the Tallinn-based Baltic Strategic Research Institute.
At the time, influential Cold War diplomat Henry Kissinger gave up his position as an honorary board member of the institute saying he did not want to be the colleague of an alleged Nazi war criminal. U.S. officials interrogated Mannil and banned him from entering the country.
However, the 1995 investigation, carried out by the Estonian security police, concluded Mannil was innocent.
Local media have been highly critical of Zuroff. Questions put to Zuroff at a press conference after his meeting with Laar focused on a front-page headline in the daily Eesti Paevaleht Aug. 22, which ran, "Nazi hunter accuses Estonian people of murders."
"I never said that," said Zuroff. He explained that a report by an international commission led by Max Jakobson of the Washington,D.C.-based Center of Strategic and International Studies, published in 1998, stated that up to 1,200 Estonians out of the several thousand who served in the paramilitary Omakaitse troops during the war were involved in killing Jews.
According to Estonian historians, there were only 5,000 Jews living in Estonia as World War II began since many fled to the Soviet Union shortly before, and only about 1,000 of them stayed alive after the war.
In a strongly worded statement released during an annual public meeting on Aug. 23 to remember the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, its organizers demanded that Zuroff, who holds a Ph.D. in the history of the Holocaust from Jerusalem University, apologize to Estonians for his "libelous" words in Eesti Paevaleht.
"Otherwise we will have to correct our friendly attitude toward Jews living in Estonia," it read.
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