Legendary fugitive Igor Molotkov is back at court: unexpected glory only made life difficult

On Monday, I. Molotkov was taken to the Vilnius City District Court to handcuff him and explain the robberies.

“Famous, you became famous,” Petras Prialgauskas, a lawyer assigned to him by the State, greeted the defendant with those words.

The trial began with the usual procedure for determining the identity of the accused. I. Molotkov knows the judicial process well, so when the judge barely asked, he stood up and was asked about the date of birth and began to collect all the essential information.

“Born in April 1991, in Eišiškės. Lithuanian citizen. I was living in Vilnius before my arrest. Education 10 degrees. Single. I am not registered in the job bank, I am not working because I recently got out of prison. He has been convicted 18 times, “said I. Molotkov.

Calculated stealing pans

This time, I. Molotkov is on trial for two robberies at the Senukai store on Ukmergės street.

On June 15, he took 4 pans, removed the barcodes with pliers to prevent the alarm from working, and put everything in his backpack.

“I sold pans in the Šeškinė market. Half-price. I spent the money to earn a living, ”he explained.

According to I. Molotkov, the demand for cheap pans was high, so he returned to the same store the next day to steal them. But this time, a thief loaded with a full backpack got caught in the security guards.

By the way, the value of the stolen pans – 157 euros. The judge pointed out that I. Molotkov had been abducted on several occasions while stealing, but the amount never exceeded 150 euros, thus avoiding criminal responsibility, he was only subject to administrative sanctions.

“Did you count?” Judge Ramūnas Keidūnas asked.

“I calculated,” admitted I. Molotkov, explaining that by stealing the pans, they calculated their price with a promotion, but when he got stuck, no one applied discounts to him. “He said the cards are just a promotion.”

He received no help in freedom

Molotkov explained that he could only survive by stealing, because he left the prison in March and did not receive any help.

“I got out of prison, I didn’t get it vapšie without help from social workers. I don’t even know where to start, he said about the start of his journey in freedom. – Social workers told me that I will receive money in a week. Gave a permanent bus ticket. A week later he gave 100 euros. And how did you survive the whole month? “

He added that the quarantine was announced in Lithuania at the time, so he didn’t have much of a choice.

“It just came to my knowledge then. It sounded very loud throughout Lithuania, I can’t find a job,” the defendant continued.

However, the judge noted that legally Molotkov never worked. He replied that he has many debts, so he works illegally alone, he has acquired the specialty of plasterer.

Slimy drug addiction

Admitting all the accusations, I. Molotkov stated that he regretted the robberies, but could not live otherwise.

“You need to change your life, but there is no motivation, nobody gives you the motivation to change your life”,

When asked if he could ask relatives for help, Molotkov claimed to be completely alone.

“No relatives or families. When I sat down last time, my mother died 3 months later,” he said.

He revealed that he needed most of the money not for food but for medicine.

“I’ve been using it since I was 14 anyway. It used to be heroin, now it’s fentanyl, he said.” The drugs cost between € 15-20 a day.

He said he used to buy drugs in the country, but even now it is not difficult to get them.

“It just came to our knowledge then. Now all the gypsies have been evicted from the camp, who are selling in the city. And without them, there are those who sell,” he said.

Molotkov said he had tried addiction treatment, but that didn’t help him. Getting drugs behind bars wasn’t a problem either.

“Maybe you don’t spend most of the week there,” he said.

He also managed to commit more crimes

By the way, I. Molotkov, who has been on the run for less than half a year, managed to earn more money. Police are currently conducting a series of pre-trial investigations in which the suspect is the one.

“Two pre-trials – for theft and fraud,” he said, but the judge asked him if there were really only two.

“Oh his, another robbery,” Molotkov recalls.

The prosecutor in charge of the case requested that the accused be sentenced to 35 days in prison.

And the lawyer defending I. Molotkov simply asked for the lightest punishment.

“It just came to our knowledge then. Of course, we would all like to help him, but our efforts are not enough, it is also necessary for Igor himself to come to the conclusion that it is necessary to change his lifestyle. I want to believe that he will find the right. strength to change in himself, ”said Fr. Prialgauskas in his closing speech.

3,000 were looking for a refugee. officials

In November 2015, two officers from the Švenčionys District Police Station transported the born I. Molotkov back to the Švenčionys Police Detention Center, but after receiving an additional task, they drove to the Vilnius Sixth Police Station .

After the police officers got out of the car for a short time, I. Molotkov, taking advantage of the situation, seized the automatic weapon from the front of the car with a magazine of ammunition.

A police officer approached the back door of the car, opened it, and saw a pistol pointed at himself.

Molotkov demanded that the police officer not cause confusion and get in the car and threatened to use a weapon. The officer tried to reassure I. Molotkov, and his partner who approached the car soon fled to hide in the police station building. He was later removed by a police officer.

At that time, the defendant, having exited the car through the front door, fled.

Huge police forces were launched in search of the refugee. According to the police, that night I. Molotkov was looking for about 3 thousand. A police helicopter was used to monitor the Aras police counterterrorism operations team. He was found five hours later at his home on Calle Pelesos.

Molotkov did not have a stolen weapon with him. Shortly after his arrest, he showed places where he had hidden an automatic weapon with a magazine of ammunition and handcuffs.

Following I. Molotkov’s escape, the resignation was announced by Interior Minister Saulius Skvernelis, who was criticized by President Dalia Grybauskaitė both for the incident and for improperly informing the heads of state about the search operation.

Later, after a conversation with Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius, S. Skvernelis decided to remain in office.