Lithuanian prosecutor's office re-qualified the charge of 25 involved in the case of the massacre of civilians in Vilnius on January 13, 1991, among them — Belarusian General, Vladimir Uskhopchik. Now, they are accused of war crimes, and 20-year period of limitation for crimes under this article does not remain valid.
As stated in General Prosecutor’s Office of Lithuania, at the time the documents are translated into Belarusian and Russian languages, and after that they will be transferred to law enforcement agencies of Belarus and Russia, DELFI informs referring to Lithuanian television channel, LNK.
Besides, the former head of Vilnius garrison, General Vladimir Uskhopchik, in this case are involved: General Algimantas Naudzhyunas, Anatoly Subotin, Colonel Edmundas Kasperavicius and others.
According to Lithuanian Justice, 25 persons participated in the coup will be suspected if the foreign judicial authorities transfer them the message of suspicion, they are interrogated or extradited to Lithuania.
«Now, the suspects will be under the article, which provides war crimes, but previously there meant concrete activity. For example, murder, infliction of harm, destruction of buildings, etc. The present article covers all these actions», explained the acting General Attorney of Lithuania, Raimondas Petrauskas.
Article 100 of the Criminal Code of Lithuania, used to re-qualify the accusation, provides that «anyone who in the process of holding or basing on the state or organization policy, on a large scale and systematically intentionally attacked civilians, killed them or caused serious harm to their health, is punished by deprivation of liberty of 5 to 20 years or life imprisonment».
As Telegraf previously reported, in March because of Belarusian authorities refusal to extradite General Uskhopchik, Lithuanian President, Dalia Grybauskaite, did not invite the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, to Independence Day celebrations. «With regard to Lukashenko’s invitation — some change should occur in Ushopchik case. If it happens, then we’ll discuss it», the head of Lithuanian state said.
Lithuanian authorities believe that it is General Uskhopchik who ordered to fire on unarmed demonstrators on January 13, 1991.
