$20,000 Reward for Information
on Jews Who Repressed Estonians
Estonia Offers Reward For Justice:
Reward of $20,000 for information on Jewish officers
involved in repression against Estonians
The Moscow Tribune Friday, July 26, 2002
TALLINN��An Estonian man has offered a reward for
$20,000 for information on Jewish officers of the
Soviet KGB involved in repression against Estonians, a
newspaper reported on Wednesday.
"For my part, I'm offering 20,000 U.S. dollars to
everyone whose honest confession brings about a fair
court's verdict of guilty on criminals of the Jewish
nationality who while serving in Soviet repressive
bodies in the 1940s committed genocidal crimes in
Estonia," Heiki Kortsparn was quoted as saying in the
weekly Kesknadal.
The offer follows a $10,000 reward announced last week
by the Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Centre for
information on residents in the three Baltic states
who collaborated with the Nazis in the holocaust.
The $20,000 reward offer was published in a letter to
the editor of the newspaper of Estonia's Centrist
Party, which is in a two-party coalition government,
but the party has not discussed the issue.
"We've published all sorts of letters representing all
sorts of views. The party doesn't discuss all letters
before publishing them." Kesknadal's editor-in-chief,
Heamar Lenk said.
The Soviets deported over 30,000 Estonians to Siberia
when they took over the country at the outset and
after World War II. Many of the deported Estonian
citizens suffered from disease and deprivation
and died from the inhumane conditions.
Estonia prosecutors have brought cases for crimes
against humanity against several ex-KGB officers for
their involvement in the deportations.