The case of the Kaunas massacre that shocked the whole of Lithuania is once again in the police spotlight.

R. Ivanauskas, 64, who has been sentenced to 8 years in prison for helping and inciting very serious crimes, is currently serving his sentence, but considers that the condemned man, who submitted a request to the Vilnius Regional Court to resume proceedings in In a criminal case, he attempted to be released from prison.

R. Ivanauskas believes that a provision of the law provided for in the Criminal Procedure Law should be applied to it, which not only eliminates the crime from the act or facilitates the legal position of the person who committed the act.

The statement of D. Kedžio’s friend before the court indicates that, in his opinion, the court that heard the case of the Kaunas massacre had incorrectly applied the criminal law, misinterpreted the criminal law when his criminal actions were recognized as an aid to D. Kedys, as well as that the provisions of the law were applied in an unreasonable way when pleading guilty. , by which the convicted person can be released from liability for illness. R. Ivanauskas states that he is blind and that, due to visual impairment, it is too difficult for him to serve a real prison sentence.

The convict also alleged in his complaint that his rights to a fair trial had been violated during the criminal proceeding and that, therefore, he was unjustifiably found guilty and, therefore, a reason to reopen the criminal proceeding.

“I think there are reasons to free myself from the sentence or to reduce the sentence that was imposed on me,” in his statement R. Ivanauskas asked to take into account the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, as well as the Lithuanian Constitution and the laws of Penal procedure.

Such statement by R. Ivanauskas surprised Red Savickas, the prosecutor of the Department of Organized Crime and Corruption Investigation of the Office of the Attorney General, who supported the state prosecution in the Kaunas murder case. After becoming familiar with the conviction’s statement, the prosecutor pointed out that after the conviction took effect, the legal framework related to the criminal acts charged against R. Ivanauskas has not changed, therefore, there is currently no current law to examine and satisfy said request. The prosecutor asked the court to dismiss the convict’s request.

The three-judge panel of the Vilnius Regional Court supported the position of Prosecutor R. Savickas.

“Since the sentencing, no new laws have been adopted to mitigate the situation of the convict, the convict does not specify such laws in his application, therefore, the court has no legal basis to reconsider the issue of the sentence imposed on the convict” , emphasized the panel of judges chaired by Judge Daiva Kazlauskienė.

According to the court, R. Ivanauskas mentioned in his request several unrelated legal reasons, according to which he requested to reopen the procedure and reduce the sentence or release it entirely.

“However, it must be taken into account that both the duration of the process and its importance for the amount of the sentence to be imposed, as well as the possibility of applying the probation law, were evaluated both in the court of first instance and in appeal and cassation, “the court emphasized. that the procedural decisions of the courts in the case of the Kaunas massacre have entered into force, therefore cannot be questioned and are enforceable.

This is not the first time that R. Ivanauskas has attempted to reopen the criminal case: in June last year, he appealed to the Attorney General Evaldas Pašilis and asked him to re-examine the criminal case, as the police must verify the testimony of Mindaugas Žalimas. , a witness who cooperated with the prosecutor’s office. Credibility: The convict noted that the courts that examined the case of the Police Department officers, in which they were accused of failing to prevent the massacre in Kaunas, decided that he was not a reliable witness.

The Attorney General, having become familiar with the arguments set forth in the convict’s request, decided not to reopen the investigation. Later, the validity of this decision was confirmed by the Vilnius Regional Court, which examined R. Ivanauskas’ complaint.

“In addition, it should be noted that the institute for reopening criminal proceedings due to recently revealed circumstances is not a means of re-litigation, as it provides an opportunity to retest proven criminal circumstances until the court evaluates evidence favorable to the person concerned, “Judge Jurgita Kolyčienė declared in the ruling.

Addressing the Attorney General, R. Ivanauskas noted that in another criminal case, officials from the Police Department had been prosecuted, accused by the Prosecutor’s Office of abusing their official position when they did not prevent the Kaunas massacre. According to the convict, in this case the courts questioned the testimony of M. Žalimas, a secret witness who had cooperated with the police in 2018. At the end of the 19th century, television publicly denied public information that officials knew of the planned crime. Kedis and had every opportunity to avoid it.

According to R. Ivanauskas, this is an important circumstance, because “M. The testimony of the murder was found to be false ”, one of the sources of information in the case of the Kaunas massacre was also the testimony of a secret witness. The convict pointed out that M. Žalimas’ testimony was inconsistent and should be reevaluated after the resumption of the process.

However, the court did not agree: “In this criminal case, the testimony of the witness M. Žalimas was not false, this is not a recently discovered circumstance of which R. Ivanauskas would not have been aware during his criminal process, for therefore, there is no reason to initiate a procedure in this case. “

Vilnius Regional Court in 2016. In June R. Ivanauskas was found guilty of inciting, assisting and encouraging the murder of two or more people, but a year later the appeals court acquitted him of inciting the murder, but confirmed the same eight year prison sentence.

The massacre in Kaunas shook all of Lithuania in 2009. October 5 – Jonas Furmanavičius, a judge of the Kaunas Regional Court, was shot dead at his home, accused by D. Kedys of pedophilia, and then Violeta Naruševičienė, whose sister Laimutė Stankūnaitė was a cousin of D. Kedžio, she was killed.

The police have indicated that these murders were allegedly committed by D. Kedys, both L. Stankūnaitė and businessman Andrius Ūsas, who helped the woman fight for the care of her daughter, they had to be shot the same day.

Prosecutors were unable to prosecute D. Kedžis for this crime, as he was later found drowned by the contents of his stomach, but for helping and inciting “killing demons” (fictional pedophiles and allegedly trafficked sisters), the friend of Mr. Kedis R. Ivanauskas was processed. and his former cousin Eglė Barauskaitė, who was later acquitted by the court.

At that time, R. Ivanauskas had previously asked the judges to acquit him or release him from his sentence due to illness: he was blind. However, the judges ruled that visual problems were not an obstacle to committing the alleged crimes: “The fact that R. Ivanauskas has gone blind after committing a criminal crime does not exempt him from responsibility.”

The courts that have examined the case have established that R. Ivanauskas together with E. Barauskaitė and D. Kedžiai went to the then state-protected witness M. Žalimas; Plan to do it: start with Kaunas Regional Court Judge J. Furmanavičius, then go to the Stankūnaitė sisters, later businessman A. Ūsa, who was accused of pedophilia.

The men had thought of the route, they knew where the people to be killed would be planned. Back in 2009 On September 16, M. Žalimas took three bags of R. Ivanauskas, which were necessary for the concealment of D. Kedžis, and took them to the garden house that day.

The investigation also found that it was known two weeks before the massacre that D. Kedys would kill on October 5. J. Furmanavičius was shot 8 times and V. Naruševičienė 6-7 times.