Britain to Spend Millions to Prosecute War Criminals

In a move hailed by Jewish groups, Britain has set aside $15.8 million for the prosecution of alleged Nazi war criminals living in the United Kingdom.

At the same time, a major hurdle to prosecution efforts was cleared last week when the House of Lords agreed to drop its objections to the use of videotaped testimony in trials of suspected war criminals.

The two developments should theoretically speed efforts to bring to justice 91 British residents suspected of involvement in war crimes. Those efforts have been stymied over the years by a number of legislative and bureaucratic obstacles.

In Los Angeles, the Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Center welcomed the announcement of funding for prosecution efforts.

“We applaud this signal that the British government is serious in fulfilling its moral and legal obligation to prosecute Nazi war criminals who found safe haven in Britain,” Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the center’s associate dean, said in a statement.

Last month, the center’s dean, Rabbi Marvin Hier, wrote to Prime Minister John Major urging his personal attention “to ensure that justice delayed does not become justice denied.”

The success in Parliament follows years of wrangling.

Last year in the House of Lords, opponents of war crimes trials forced through an amendment to a Scottish bill that would have disallowed videotaped testimony in Scottish courts.

The measure was raised because a trial is expected to get under way in Scotland.

The House of Commons overturned the measure, but through parliamentary procedure the measure was returned to the Lords. Last week, the opponents in the House of Lords gave up their fight against videotaped evidence.

But some of the Lords renewed criticism of the War Crimes Act, which allows trials of alleged Nazi criminals in Britain.

Lady Saltoun of Abernethy said such trials would be “both obscene and costly.”

“It is quite clear that nothing this House does or says will make the government come to their senses. I see no object in continuing to fight them on this issue,” she added.

One of the staunchest opponents of the War Crimes Act, Lord Campbell of Alloway, said that to continue to oppose it would have been “a futile and barren gesture.”

A spokesman for the All-Party Parliamentary War Crimes Group, comprising Parliament members who support the War Crimes Act, said: “We are very pleased to hear that the Lords have at last fallen into the line with public opinion.”