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VILNIUS, Jun 16, BNS – Lithuania's Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius will attend a ceremony to unveil a memorial plaque next to the old Jewish cemetery in Vilnius on Thursday.

In the framework of the Year of Holocaust, Lithuania will complete immortalizing the memory of one of Europe's oldest destroyed Jewish cemetery. Lithuania came under international criticism a few years ago over protection of the site.

Kubilius said that the memorial plaque would send yet another sign of respect to the Jewish nation amid Lithuania's efforts to restore historic justice.

"Lithuania's history cannot be imagined without the Lithuanian Jewish community, which had left a deep imprint in our heritage since the era of Vytautas the Great," the prime minister told BNS via his spokesman.

"Holocaust undermined the Litvak community, however, Lithuania is today working to return the moral debt by restoring historic justice. The memorial plaque next to the old Jewish cemetery in Snipikskes is yet another small sign of respect to the Jewish nation amid the commemoration of 2011 as the year of memory of the Holocaust," Kubilius said.

Lithuania was locked in a new scandal a few years ago amid suspicions that new commercial buildings were constructed in the location of the old Jewish cemetery. The cemetery has been cleared by the Soviet administration, however, historians note lack of clear evidence about removal of all remains.

In response to the criticism, Lithuania's administration had invited Jewish representatives to perform tests at the site in 2008. Following international tests and cartographic clashes, the vague outline of the cemetery was reborn in a green lawn. Lithuania's government approved the boundaries of the cemetery in 2009.

Cabinet representatives said Jews had agreed with the government-approved boundaries and did not object leaving the apartment buildings and the Sports Center located in the questionable territory untouched, although historic sources showed them within the cemetery boundaries.

The Jewish cemetery in central Vilnius was functional from the 16th century before they were closed in the 18th century.