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. #### 94-536