The Jewish human rights organization, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, has launched a new campaign to find and prosecute missing Nazi war criminals while they are still alive.

The director of the center, Efraim Zuroff, told a news conference in Berlin Wednesday the new operation will offer rewards of up to $32,000 for tips leading to the investigation and capture of war criminals.

He says the passage of time in no way diminishes the guilt of the killers.

Zuroff said a new legal precedent set by the recent prosecution of former death camp guard John Demjanjuk could pave the way to reopening more criminal cases. The 91-year-old Demjanjuk was convicted in Germany in May of nearly 30,000 counts of accessory to murder.

Demjanjuk has denied the charges and is appealing the verdict.

The new drive by the Simon Wiesenthal Center follows its initial program, Operation Last Chance, which was launched in 2002 and targeted suspected war criminals living mainly in eastern European countries.

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