War crime suspect 'unfit' to face extradition

Alleged war criminal Anton Gecas will not be extradited to Lithuania to stand trial because he is medically unfit.

A warrant was issued in July for the arrest of the 85-year-old who is seriously ill in hospital in Edinburgh after suffering two strokes.

A spokesman for the Justice Department of the Executive says it will not be served on him until his condition improves.

The spokesman said: "The warrant will not be executed at the moment following the medical report. If that situation changes, it will be looked at again, obviously we will follow medical advice."

The extradition request was in connection with genocide and war crimes in Lithuania and Byelorussia, now Belarus, during the Second World War.

In February, a district court in Vilnius, Lithuania, granted a warrant for the arrest of Mr Gecas.

He moved to Scotland in 1947.

Mr Gecas has repeatedly denied committing war crimes.

He is undergoing treatment at the Liberton Hospital in the south of Edinburgh.

In 1992, Mr Gecas lost a defamation case against Scottish Television, which claimed he led atrocities against Jews in his native country and Belarus.