FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                   CRM
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1994                                  (202) 616-2777
                                                         TDD (202) 514-1888

                  JUSTICE DEPARTMENT FILES SUIT TO REVOKE
                       CITIZENSHIP OF FORMER MEMBER
                     OF LITHUANIAN MOBILE KILLING UNIT

     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of Justice announced
today that it has filed suit to revoke the U.S. citizenship of a
Tampa Bay area man accused of participation in Nazi-sponsored
acts of persecution while serving in the infamous 2nd/12th
Lithuanian Schutzmannschaft (Protective Detachment) Battalion
during World War II.
     The denaturalization complaint, filed in U.S. District Court
in Tampa today by the Criminal Division's Office of Special
Investigations (OSI) and the United States Attorney's office in
Tampa, alleged that Juozas (a/k/a Joseph) Budreika, 77, joined
the 2nd/12th Battalion by August 1941, and, while serving in the
battalion participated in Nazi-sponsored acts of persecution. 
The complaint also charges that Budreika gave false testimony and
willfully concealed his wartime service on behalf of the Nazis
when applying to immigrate to the United States in 1958 and when
applying to become a U.S. citizen in 1967.
     The 2nd/12th Battalion was armed, sponsored and controlled
by Nazi Germany.  During 1941 and 1942, the 2nd/12th Battalion
murdered thousands of unarmed Jews and other civilians in
Lithuania and Byelorussia (now Belarus) because of their race,
religion, political beliefs, or national origin.
     The complaint alleges that Budreika, a retired cook now
living in Gulfport, procured his immigration visa and his
naturalization as a United States citizen illegally and by
concealing and misrepresenting his wartime activities.
     OSI Acting Director Eli M. Rosenbaum said the initiation of
proceedings to denaturalize Budreika is a result of OSI's ongoing
efforts to identify and take legal action against former
participants in Nazi persecution residing in this country.  Fifty
Nazi persecutors have been stripped of U.S. citizenship and 42
have been removed from the United States since OSI began
operations in 1979.  There are more than 300 persons currently
under investigation by OSI, according to Rosenbaum.
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94-536