Denmark ends probe into Dane over WWII murder of Jews
COPENHAGEN — An elderly Dane accused of being involved in the mass murder of Jews in Belarus during World War II will not be prosecuted, Danish authorities said Friday, saying they have “not found evidence he committed or took part in the killings.”
The probe had been “very thorough” but evidence against 91-year-old Helmuth Leif Rasmussen was “limited,” chief prosecutor Steen Bechmann Jacobsen said.
“To be prosecuted for participation in mass killings requires a closer connection to the crime itself. You do not prosecute a known burglar for lots of burglaries in a neighbourhood simply because he was in the area at the time of break-ins. You need evidence,” he told The Associated Press.
“This is a very sad day,” said Ephraim Zuroff , head of the Jerusalem-based Simon Wiesenthal Center. He said Rasmussen “must be happy, the relatives of the victims are not.”