The Slovenian Supreme Court overturned the conviction for high treason of a Nazi collaborator, Leon Rupnik, who was executed in Yugoslavia shortly after World War II, the Jewish Cultural Center (CCJ) in Ljubljana reported on Wednesday.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter

The Supreme Court ruled that the trial of Rupnik by the judiciary under the communist leaders of Yugoslavia was "unfair," a decision slammed by Jewish organizations.

Leon Rupnik with Nazi officers during WWII ( Photo: Courtesy )

Rupnik was a general in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in World War I and later collaborated with the Fascist Italian and Nazi German occupation forces during World War II.

In the years 1943 and 1944 Rupnik led police forces to arrest and deport Slovenian Jews from Ljubljana and its surrounding areas, according to the local Jewish community.

"We were shocked and deeply concerned about the decision," said director of the Jewish Cultural Center (JCC) in Ljubljana, Robert Waltl.

"This shameful decision constitutes a shocking distortion of the history of the Holocaust and a horrible insult to the many victims of Rupnik and their families," wrote historian Efraim Zuroff of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in a letter to the Ambassador of Slovenia to Israel.

"We kindly ask you to promptly convey our protest to the competent Slovenian authorities so that appropriate measures can be taken to repair the enormous damage caused by this unfair decision by the Slovenian Supreme Court," added Zuroff.



