Jerusalem-The Simon Wiesenthal Center today criticized Estonia’s failure to prosecute local Nazi collaborator Mikhail Gorshkow, whose case was closed yesterday by the Estonian authorities without any legal action taken. In a statement issued here by its chief Nazi-hunter, Israel director Dr. Efraim Zuroff, the Center termed the decision as “typical of the total failure since independence of the Estonian authorities to hold local Holocaust perpetrators accountable for their crimes.”

According to Zuroff:

“Estonia’s refusal to prosecute Gorshkow is only the latest in a series of failures to bring Estonian Nazi collaborators to justice. Starting with Evald Mikson, who was defended by the Estonian Foreign Ministry despite his heinous crimes, and continuing with Harry Mannil, who was Mikson’s subordinate in the Political Police, Estonia has failed time after time to hold its Holocaust perpetrators accountable. One can only wonder why a person convicted in the United States suddenly has his identity questioned in Estonia?”

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe, and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).


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