Russian Court Refuses to Reveal Holocaust Hero’s Fate
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Version 0 of 1. MOSCOW — A Russian court refused on Monday to order Russia’s top security agency to release documents that would shed light on the mysterious death of Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat and Holocaust hero. Following a brisk one-day hearing, a judge in Moscow agreed with Federal Security Service’s lawyers, who argued that the agency cannot make the documents public, as they would reveal private information about other prisoners of the Soviet secret service, as well as its guards and investigators. Marie Dupuy, Mr. Wallenberg’s niece, filed a lawsuit against the security service, known as the F.S.B., in July, seeking access to uncensored prison records and other documents that could give clues about his fate. In a surprising decision, a Moscow court agreed to hear the case. In 1944, Mr. Wallenberg, an offspring of a rich, influential family, was Sweden’s special envoy in Budapest, where he used his diplomatic status to issue so-called “protective passports” to tens of thousands of Jews, thus saving them from the almost certain death in Nazi gas chambers. One year later, a Soviet counterintelligence agency abducted Mr. Wallenberg on suspicion of espionage and brought him to Moscow. Mr. Wallenberg’s later life has been a subject to speculation since. He was formally declared dead only in 2016, 71 years after he vanished. Following Stalin’s death, the Soviet authorities said that they had discovered a medical report that indicated that Mr. Wallenberg died of a heart attack in prison in July 1947 at age 37. Mr. Wallenberg’s relatives and historians doubted the claim, however, pointing to multiple testimonies, suggesting that he was only transferred to another prison then. Some of this evidence was unearthed by a joint Swedish-Russian working group that was formed in 1991 amid the chaos of the collapse of the Soviet Union. The English-language version of the group’s report, published in 2000, asserted that “a complete, legally tenable account of Raoul Wallenberg’s fate or reasons for his arrest” is still lacking. Sergei V. Churikov, the F.S.B.’s lawyer, said during the court hearing that his security agency is not a successor to Soviet security services, mainly the K.G.B., and the fact that they keep their archives is only “a misfortune.” One of the calendars, hanging in the courtroom, spoke to the opposite. It said that in 2017 the F.S.B. celebrated its centennial. “Why do you think that some of the relatives would be glad to find out that their ancestor was in an internal prison for crimes against the state,” said Mr. Churikov. “Why don’t you think about revenge that some people could do that?” Mr. Churikov suggested that Mr. Wallenberg’s relatives can wait until 2022 when the documents should turn public by law. Ivan Pavlov, the lawyer for Ms. Dupuy, said she would appeal the decision. He said that despite the judge’s decision, the lawsuit shed some light on Mr. Wallenberg’s case. “Mr. Wallenberg’s historical importance gives us the right to know the truth, whatever it might be,” Mr. Pavlov said following the hearing. “Sooner or later we will get this truth, and they know that too.” |