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On Thursday, the Lithuanian Court of Appeals opened a criminal case for the second time, in which a panel of three judges is examining not only the appeals of prosecutors and victims, but also convicts and their defenders against the ruling of the Kaunas Regional Court announced in April.
Only Leonas Bieliauskas was convicted of intentional murder with extreme cruelty, two robberies, destruction of property and illegal deprivation of liberty, and was sentenced to the heaviest sentence of life imprisonment: the court has determined that he was the most cruel towards the murdered person . At that time, L. Bieliauskas’s cousin, Karolis Bieliauskas, was sentenced to 17 years and Mantas Bieliauskas to 16 years in prison.
Prosecutors in support of the public prosecution and the parents, sister and ex-boyfriend of those killed are calling for the most severe punishment to be imposed on the three cousins, at the time seeking a more lenient sentence.
At the time, the hijacking of a vehicle belonging to a Latvian citizen and the illegal use of a firearm together with their convicted cousins Algimantas Stankevičius of Marijampolė and Tomas Zagurskas of Kėdainiai were sentenced to two years and two months and two years in prison. for theft and robbery, respectively. Prosecutors believe the condemned have been sentenced to overly lenient sentences, and T. Zagurskas is asked to be sentenced to four years in prison and A. Stankevičius to four years and two months in prison.
At Thursday’s hearing, the court was to listen to closing speeches by convicted prosecutors and defenders, but the scheduled hearing did not take place: the panel of judges announced that L. Bieliauskas’ lawyer was unexpectedly ill. The court intends to hear the closing speeches at the September and October hearings. It is also planned to hear the last words of the condemned in October: the condemned will have the opportunity to apologize to the victims, as they have not done so far, although the cousins convicted of lesser sentences against L. Bieliauskas were still trying to pronounce apologies in court first instance.
Although it was already known Thursday morning that a court hearing would not be held, the convicted cousins were still brought to court from jails. They were guarded by armed convoy officers: L. Bieliauskas, who had been incarcerated alive, was locked in a cage in the courtroom, and his cousins, who were sentenced to lighter punishment, sat side by side and constantly They discussed something before the hearing. At that time, L. Bieliauskas showed no emotion, just watched with cold eyes what was happening in the courtroom.
The court listens to the criminal case in private, in order to protect the privacy of the murdered person and his family. The state prosecutor’s office in this case has the support of two experienced prosecutors from the Attorney General’s Investigation and Organized Crime Department: Artūras Urbelis and Gintas Ivanauskas.
I. Strazdauskaitė was kidnapped and killed in 2017. In March, while driving on the Kaunas-Vilnius road, imitating a traffic accident, the cousins pushed a girl in the trunk of a car and then brutally killed him, the victim was beaten with several dozen blades, buried in the Kėdainiai district, Daukšiai airfield territory. He did not use it, later it was found in the Jonava district, in a forest near the city of Žeimiai.
During the interviews, Mantas and Leonas explained to Bieliauskas that everything was “driven” by her cousin Karolis, who was the one who made the decision to push the girl into the trunk and not leave her way to the place where the car was hijacked. Why, the cousins could not explain, that Karolis himself could not explain his unexpected decision.
When the decision was made to kill I. Strazdauskaitė, the men decided to ditch the car as well; They suspected that the police and a girl’s friend could actually search them. The men who left the Audi A7 in a remote spot in the woods may have returned to pick it up, but the following day there were media reports of the disappearance of I. Strazdauskaitė.
It is suspected that the men intended to sell this car: it was Karolis, who demonstrated a luxurious lifestyle in Kėdainiai, who was engaged in car reselling.
I. Strazdauskaitė was killed on the territory of the airfield the same night; all three suspects participated in the girl’s execution. The cousins were convinced that they would not find the girl, but later, when they were arrested and detained, the suspects themselves showed the criminals the victim’s grave.
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