A bloody night of horror in Vilnius: two were killed, the third had a sore throat, and the alleged killer was unexpectedly released

It was a true bloody horror night in Vilnius: two people (42 and 33 years old) were killed during the drinking conflict, and the life of a 40-year-old third man was attacked. But even almost four years after this terrible story, it is still unclear whether Mechislav Olechnovich, 58, accused of killing two people, is in fact the one who committed this crime in cold blood.

These doubts arose this week when the Lithuanian Supreme Court unexpectedly ordered the immediate release of M. Olechnovičius, who had already served his sentence at the Alytus Correctional Center since December last year: He was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the first 5 years in the most severe prison conditions. He was free at all times until the court sentenced.

The court of final and unappealable decisions questioned whether M. Olechnovičius was really the person who could have committed the crime; Such doubts arose after judges analyzed not only the conviction’s and his defense attorney’s cassation complaints, but also material gathered during the pre-trial investigation and trial. court rulings. And the circumstances established in them, according to the panel of judges of the Supreme Court, are not only incompletely investigated, but also contradict each other.

It felt like they were in a slaughterhouse.

According to the data from the criminal case, the crime was committed in the late afternoon of August 28, 2016, at approximately 11.40 p.m. In an apartment building on Parko Street in Vilnius. Police officers who were called to the department on the eighth floor felt as if they had entered a real butcher shop: in the kitchen, a 33-year-old man lay in a blood clan, and a 42-year-old man was stabbed in a Wheelchair. The woman found at home began to yell at the officers, only with the help of special measures he was able to contain her and take her to the police station.

Another man, who slept in an apartment, and M. Olechnovičius, who was involved in drinking, also entered police custody. All were intoxicated, large amounts of alcohol were also found in the bodies of those killed. Another participant of a drinker was closed and seriously injured in Lukiškės remand prison: A. Rogovas has now been recognized as a victim. He claims that M. Olechnovich cut his throat with a knife, furthermore, according to the victim, perhaps this man’s conscience should be pressured for the murder of two people.

At that time, from the beginning of the pre-trial investigation, M. Olechnovičius denied the allegations made against him, and later also the allegations. The accused man was interrogated many times, but he continued arguing that it should not be the accused but the victim, since that night he had been beaten and robbed with new acquaintances who had come to the department to continue the fun. And who killed the two drunkards, Olechnovich could not say, only assured that it was not his work.

During interrogation, a Vilnius man accused of double murder said that on the afternoon of August 28, he met a girl and two men he knew by sight in the Bokaliukas bar and shops.

“The girl said that today is her birthday, and I bragged that she would soon celebrate mine, so on that occasion we went to the store and bought drinks and snacks,” said Olechnovičius. – After a short stay at the “Bokaliukas” bar, we went to the stadium to watch a soccer game, another boy joined us here. Here we all sat five, drank and watched the competition, and in the end the girl offered to drink more. ”

Olechnovičius said he returned to buy alcohol and snacks at the store and that they all went to the apartment on Parko Street.

“The door of the apartment was opened by a man sitting in a wheelchair, and a half-naked man was lying on the sofa in the room,” the girl began to yell at the disabled person that there was a disaster in the apartment again, she said the processed man. – Then we started drinking, there was a conflict between men, they could not share anything. As the disputes did not end, I decided to go home, but I could not open the door, they had a code and they did not tell me. When I got back, I sat down at the table again, had a drink again, and then helped the disabled owner of the apartment get to the bathroom. While waiting for him to come out of the bathroom, I heard someone say, “He won’t go home,” but why, then I still didn’t get it. “

I wanted to throw rings

When the men returned to the drinkers, they continued to be angry, so M. Olechnovich tried to go home, asked to open the door, but the men explained that it was too early, that there was nowhere to hurry.

“And then there was an even bigger conflict: they started to accuse me of saying something ugly to the disabled person, so they started beating me,” M. Olechnovičius explained his position on the circumstances of the event. – I was also attacked by a disabled host and a friend of his who was with him – They hit me in the head, mainly in the face, on the body. The men who were beating me began to push me into the kitchen, I still tried to turn around and enter the room, but A. Rogov pushed me towards the chest, so he did not allow me to enter the room. I found myself in the kitchen being hit like this, and here I received a blow to the head from the back again: I fell on the table. And then the disabled man grabbed me by one hand, the other man by the other hand and they both wanted to take the rings off my fingers. They tried twisting their fingers everywhere, but they are thick, so they couldn’t remove the rings. I tried to free myself, but something hit me on the head, which made me look, darkened my eyes, I fell and lost consciousness. “

The accused man said he sat on the floor next to the kitchen set when he backed away.

“I had a disabled man in a wheelchair, and a half-naked man was lying on the kitchen door to the hallway. I saw blood,” Olechnovičius said. – Then I ran to the room, I saw A. Rogova lying down and the girl I came to the apartment with. The girls asked me what happened, where did that blood come from. He got up, ran to the kitchen and started screaming: I told him to call the doctors and the police, I asked him where the blood came from, what happened here, but he didn’t tell me anything. “

Olechnovich said he saw his wallet open next to the man lying on the ground, with his bank payment card by his side.

“While picking up the cards, I touched one of the people, I felt it was cold, although at first I thought they were just drunk,” he said. – Then I noticed that my pants pockets were empty, which made me throw my wallet with cards, and I also missed the chain and the phone. And it was at that moment that the police arrived: the girl began to push them and asked them why they had come because she had not invited them. The authorities ordered him to lie down on the floor and keep his hands behind his back. “

He found out about the friends killed in the hospital.

During the pre-trial investigation, Olechnovich also noted that the conflict with the drinkers was due to the fact that they started hanging out when he ran out of alcohol, and he refused to give any more money.

“Then there was a conflict and it is from this moment that I do not remember everything, I only remember the moment when I recovered from the loss of consciousness,” said the man. – He was standing in the middle of the kitchen: on the one hand, the corpse of a disabled man lay in a wheelchair, he was not breathing and, on the other hand, the corpse of a younger man lay on the floor in a ball of blood. So I still didn’t know he was dead, I still moved him, and only then did I realize that the man was dead. There was a lot of blood on the kitchen floor, I also hurt myself, I even tried to cut my finger to remove the rings. “

Recognized as a victim at the time, Rogov claimed that there were no conflicts during alcohol consumption and that he did not see all the events because he was asleep at the time.

“When I woke up, I heard a call for help. I realized that something was happening in another room, but I didn’t find anything when I went, so I went to the kitchen. A man was lying on the floor and probably wasn’t moving, and the owner was sitting in a wheelchair, “he said. – Then I saw Mr. Olechmovich leave the room – he hit me in the neck with a knife. I was very scared and still managed to escape from the apartment. Everything happened so fast that I didn’t even understand it, neither he nor I said anything to each other. And it was only in the hospital that I learned from the police that two people had died in the department that night. “

Rogov also admitted that while he slept, he heard men talk about a payment card while he was drunk and someone asked for a PIN code. “And I heard a cry for help in about 20 minutes,” said the victim.

At that time, residents of the apartment building said there were constant beverage stands in the apartment where two people had died, and neighbors were hearing noise.

After examining the criminal case, the Vilnius Regional Court, and later also the Lithuanian Court of Appeal, discovered that M. Olechnovičius had been killed by two people, although he denied guilt. However, the convict claims that the horrible crime at the time he passed out could have been committed by another absorber and noted that the conviction is largely based on the victim’s testimony, which is unreliable because it is contradictory and partial.

“This victim has an interest in the case because he was suspected of the same incident, possibly evaded criminal responsibility for his testimony or helped avoid the responsibility of another person, so he has an interest in giving useful evidence of the accusation and therefore inciting me “M said to the Supreme Court. Olechnovich and his lawyer.

Too many conflicting evaluations

The judges, familiar with the case, indicated that Mr. Olechnovich’s testimony showed that he had been robbed that night and that his absorbers had abused him, causing him to lose consciousness and, when he recovered, two died and the third disappeared. . However, according to the judges, the courts have not clarified many important circumstances, and the conviction contains conflicting assessments. Having established that the sentence did not meet the requirements imposed on him, the Court of Cassation ordered that the case be re-examined and that the accused M. Olechnovičius be released.

“The courts of both instances, when reaching their conclusions on the guilt of the convicted person, the application of criminal law, the imposition of a sentence, etc., did not take into account all the circumstances of the case that may affect the court’s conclusions” , the Supreme Court emphasized. – From the content of the appealed judgments, it appears that the courts, although they exposed the evidence gathered during the process (testimony of the convicted person, victims and witnesses, expert reports, on-site inspection reports, other written material), evaluated only a part of that evidence.

In addition, when evaluating the evidence, it did not perform a detailed analysis, made errors in its content, did not compare it with data obtained from other sources of evidence (such as on-site inspections, forensic findings, etc.) and did not eliminate inconsistencies. between the statements of the people interviewed in the case and their inconsistency with other material in the case. “

The criminal case against M. Olechnovičius will be reviewed by the Lithuanian Court of Appeal.