EJP

By AFP

VILNIUS —Lithuania’s Appeal Court on Friday rejected a request by state prosecutors to imprison an 87-year old Nazi-era war criminal found guilty of Holocaust crimes.

In March 2006, Algimantas Mykolas Dailide was found guilty of persecuting Jews during the World War II Nazi occupation of Lithuania. He currently lives in Germany.

However, the district court also ruled that Dailide’s health did not permit him to serve a prison sentence and that he posed no threat to society

Lithuanian state prosecutors appealed the verdict, demanding a five-year prison term.

Dailide worked in the Lithuanian security police from 1941-44 and participated in the arrest of Jews.

He also detained two Jews who escaped from Vilnius ghetto.

Dailide lived in the United States up to 1950. When authorities found that he collaborated with Nazis, he was deported in 2003 and has since been living in Germany.