MOSCOW, October 14 (RAPSI) – A criminal case against Vladimir Katryuk, who allegedly participated in the massacre in the Belarusian village of Khatyn during World War II, has been closed because of his death, Russia’s Investigative Committee announced on Friday.

In March 1943, Nazi collaborators massacred the entire population of Khatyn, or 149 civilians, including 75 children and minors. They also destroyed all residential buildings. The Investigative Committee representative specified that there is no statute of limitation for war crimes, according to the Charter of the Nurnberg international Military Tribunal of August 8, 1945.

Russian investigators opened a case over genocide against Katryuk, who had left for Canada. Russia, as a successor of the Soviet Union, took up the obligation to prosecute Nazi war criminals.

In 2015, Canadian officials refused to extradite Katryuk. He was exonerated from all charges by Canada. Therefore, the country has ignored the principle “extradite or prosecute,” the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia said earlier.