1983: A LOOK BACK: The OSI's questionable methods (12/25/83)

1983: A LOOK BACK

The OSI's questionable methods

1983 saw attempts by several Ukrainian community groups to persuade Congress to launch a review of the methods employed by the Justice Department's Office of Special Investigations in its proceedings against East European emigres suspected of collaborating with German occupying forces during World War II.

In a June 3 letter to all senators and congressmen, the New Jersey-based Americans for Human Rights in Ukraine asked for a "thorough review" of the OSI's continued use of Soviet-supplied evidence in denaturalization proceedings against East European emigres. A similar letter was written by Americans Against Defamation of Ukrainians, Inc.

Responding to the requests, Reps. Bernard Dwyer (D-N.J.), Joseph Addabbo (D-N.Y.), James Florio (G-N.J.) and Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.) in June asked the OSI to comment on charges that it was using KGB-supplied evidence in its investigations. A similar request was made in October by Rep. Don Ritter (R-Pa.) in a letter to Rep. Peter Rodino, chairman the House Judiciary Committee.

In a November 4 response to Rep. Florio, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Mark Richard defended the OSI's procedures, saying that they were "in accordance with sound American prosecutorial practices providing full protection to the accused."

In a more positive development, OSI methodology was rejected by a federal district court judge in New Jersey on September 28 when he ruled that the U.S. government and the Soviet Union had "collaborated" in efforts to prosecute a Lithuanian emigre accused of participation in Nazi war crimes.

U.S. District Court Judge Dickinson Debevoise, in clearing 67-year-old Juozas Kungys said the charges against the defendant were based on "unreliable" testimony from witnesses who were "prepared" by the KGB. In his 104-page written opinion, he ruled that the procedures used in the case, including the methods used to gather evidence and testimony, raise "serious doubts" about the credibility of the information.

It should be noted, however, that Judge Debevoise did not rule that Soviet evidence was inadmissible per se. He merely stated that under the totality of the circumstances in the case, he could not admit it in the Kungys case.

In a disturbing development, John Demjanjuk, who was stripped of his citizenship in 1981, now faces possible extradition to Israel to stand trial. It marked the first time Israel had sought the extradition of a defendant denaturalized by the United States.

As it stands, the gulf between East European and Baltic community groups and the OSI is as wide as ever. The OSI, now directed by Neal Sher, who replaced Allan Ryan, continues to insist that its methods fully protect the rights of the accused. Emigre groups continue to argue that another method must be found to bring collaborators to justice given the unreliability of Soviet evidence, the insidious relationship between the KGB and the Soviet judicial system and proven Soviet attempts to discredit anti-Communist emigre groups in the West.

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