Medininkai non-healing wounds: 30th anniversary of massacre commemorated

At the commemoration at the Medininkai Memorial, President Gitanas Nausėda, Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė, representatives from the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of National Defense, the Seimas and the Customs Department paid tribute.

The relatives of the victims were reunited at the scene of the tragedy.

Asked painful questions

Tomas Šernas, the sole survivor of the tragic Medininkai massacre, delivered the speech.

“Every year they ask me if it translated for you to go there and die. The strange question is whether the interpreter will die. I’d say it wasn’t worth it. Behold, seven young people died, they left their loving mothers, they left their young children, their families, they did not have their grandchildren. Is the interpreter dying? Better not die.

Estonians, for example, made decisions, but somehow they did not die at the borders. We are not guilty that this imperial logic chose us, that we could have seemed so dangerous at the time, ”said T. Šernas.

“So the question remains: Is one person’s determination worth it? Is it worth committing to the nation? I’m sorry, is it worth brushing your teeth in the morning? Is it worth having a person study for seven years to become a doctor? I don’t know if it’s worth it, everyone answers that question for themselves.

Is it worth deciding to donate a kidney to a loved one? Maybe it’s not worth it? I think that’s the most important way for our nation and our society to survive, to say ‘it’s worth it’.

We want to be different, we want to be free, we want to travel the world, we want to earn more. And if something bothers us, we have to be, either in one position or another, culturally and politically.

We were here. We didn’t attack them, they attacked us. We are innocent. They couldn’t bear the smell of freedom, “T. Šernas told the audience.

I wanted unity

“A terrible crime took place in this place 30 years ago, when representatives of a foreign state tried to scare a young Lithuanian woman, who was creating a new life, with armed force. Seven officials gave a sacrifice for which there is no greater sacrifice: in the defense of their emerging country, they gave their lives, “the country’s president told the audience.

He said that today Lithuania faces a great challenge.

G.Nausėda promised that the necessary solutions to stop and resist this attack will be found and implemented very soon.

You want not to oppose yourself or the representatives of other authorities in the search for such solutions.

“Very close to here, we have a fine line that separates not only the territories, that separates freedom from captivity, the lie from the truth, to look at man as the goal of everything, to look at man at all only as a means to achieve geopolitical goals. This is an extremely important line. We must defend this line with all our might, “emphasized G. Nausėda.

Invited to draw strength from the past

The Prime Minister of the country addressed those gathered with delicate words.

“If there is something like being sung in our anthem that we need to draw strength from in the past, it is the cases that strengthen us, the events that allow us to compare our difficulties today, the problems that make us angry and impatient. so fast., with the human determination to come alone, or several here, in unknown circumstances, unbridled with hostile organizations and organized against criminals, and simply say: “I am here. Here’s my state, ”said I. Šimonytė.

Unsolved case

According to V. Landsbergis, not all that could be done in the investigation of the Medininkai massacre was done.

“If we are only concerned with the ceremonies and how to end the killing of two or more people as soon as possible, then we ourselves are a frivolous country. For 30 years. You could say ‘hey, only thirty more.’

Such a desperate case, this is what it says. It is not yet a case of political, state, Soviet terrorism and terrorist aggression. “

Wounds do not heal

Genė Orlavičienė, the wife of the late S. Orlavičius, spoke midway about the government’s inattention.

“The relatives of the victims of January 13 do not receive income either. It receives the so-called pensions that were deducted in 2009. Last year Saulius Skvernelis returned it, I saw it this year, there was a line in the budget for the return, but unfortunately it is not foreseen ”, said the widow.

Alytė Musteikienė, the widow of the murdered customs officer A. Musteikis, admitted that she had frequently visited the Medininkai post before; the woman feels a special peace here.

“It just came to our knowledge then. Nerves are always very tense. But somehow I feel better here where his life ended. We drove here at night, but we no longer have the strength to come both day and night,” said A. Musteikienė.

“It just came to our notice then. Personally, I can’t come here because it’s wrong,” said G. Orlavičienė about the opposite feeling at the Medininkai post.

“Those wounds will never heal, they cannot heal. It is not easier. It becomes more difficult because neither that nor that health exists anymore.

All the time, I think about what would happen if he was still alive: the children would have a father, the grandchildren would have a grandfather and I would have someone to talk to and trust, ”said the widow of S. Orlavičius with tears in her eyes. .

Bloody tragedy

One of the mandatory characteristics of an independent state is the control of its own borders, therefore, shortly after the restoration of Lithuania’s independence, the organization of border protection and the establishment of customs posts began.

The beginning of border control was dramatic: the Soviet Union resisted Lithuania’s aspirations to distance itself from another part of the empire, with the help of the occupying army and special units of the Soviet militia – Vilnius and Riga OMON, attacked and terrorized the border control. and customs posts.

In the early morning of July 31, 1991, seven Lithuanian and police officers guarding the Lithuanian state border with Belarus attacked the Medininkai border post, and seven Lithuanian officers were killed by smokers from the Interior Ministry Special Forces Militia of the USSR (OMON).

Six border post workers died at the same time, one died in hospital a few days later.

Mindaugas Balavakas, Juozas Janonis, Algimantas Juozakas, Algirdas Kazlauskas, Antanas Musteikis, Stanislovas Orlavičius and Ričardas Rabavičius died.

T. Šernas is the only one of the eight officers who survived the Medininkai massacre. However, due to injuries sustained, he was unable to speak for a while and is now unable to walk.

Konstantinas Mikhailov, a former OMON militiaman, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the Medininkai massacre and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Lithuanian courts sentenced three more homeowners, Andrejs Laktionovs, Česlavs Mlynikas and Aleksandrs Ryžovs, to the harshest punishment because Russia refuses to extradite them.