Vilis HāznersJudicial review and denial of motion to appeal

A10 305 336

The witness stated that the respondent was not in the Arajs Commando and could not have had anything to do with the persecution or liquidation of Jews because of his duties and rank at the Self Defense headquarters at Annas Street. He did not think that the respondent had any secret overtime hours and he also stated that there was no connection between the Annas Street headquarters and the Riga police headquarters. He also stated that all of the respondent's official relations would have had to go through him because he was his superior (d. p. 8-91).

Another witness was Aleksandrs Plensners who also resides in Sweden. He testified by way of deposition at the United States Consulate in Stockholm, that he graduated from the Alexander Military Academy in Moscow and also studied law in Moscow before the communist takeover. He was the Latvian military attache in Berlin before the war. He met the respondent in 1917 when the respondent worked at an institution which he led in Vadlka, Latvia (d. p. 212). He saw the respondent in the first days of July 1941 and knew that he worked for the Annas Street headquarters (d. p. 223). He added that the respondent could not have been a member of the Arajs Commando because the respondent was an officer with the highest military education and Arajs was only a corporal (d. p. 244). He did not see the respondent again until 1943 at Paplaka, where the respondent was adjutant of the Latvian Legion Regiment stationed there (d. p. 245). His rank was captain. In his testimony Mr. Plensners offered his opinion that the Jewish ghetto was guarded by Arajs men, who also did the persecution of Jews (d. p. 25-306).

Peteris Janelsins, also resides in Sweden, where he testified by deposition. He met the respondent sometime in the middle 1930s and afterwards became good friends with him (d. p. 337). He saw the respondent on a Riga street on July 1, 1941 and the respondent looked in pretty bad shape. He had untidy clothes, his hair had been all cut off and he looked very depressed. He then told him that he had just escaped from the central prison (d. p. 348). He later saw him at the Annas Street headquarters (d. p. 359). He also testified that these headquarters had nothing to do with the extermination of Jews and neither did the respondent, who was not a member of the Arajs Commando (d. p. 36-3710). Between 1943 and 1944 he served in the Latvian Legion as an adjutant to the respondent who commanded a battalion and was wounded; after which the witness was asked to take over command of the battalion.

Janis Meiers, who was also born in Latvia, testified by deposition at Melbourne, Australia. He went to Australia in 1950. He became a Latvian army officer in 1924 and was a captain in

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