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In this case, the convicts defended that they only complied with the orders on January 13, but such arguments were rejected by the court.
“They had to realize and realize what they were doing. They perfectly understood that when shooting with machine guns, kicking, shooting from tanks near people, going through people with tanks, they perfectly understood what the consequences would be for people. Therefore, in such a situation, the court can not agree with such arguments to talk about the fact that they do not understand what they are doing and had to obey orders, – said Judge Ernestas Rimšelis. – The court saw other circumstances in the case. There were people who also had to obey the order but refused to obey it. He resigned, resigned from high office, despite the threat to them. They have taken important moral decisions that, unfortunately, have not been taken by the defendants in this case ”.
A total of 61 appeals were received in the case. Some of them are satisfied.
It also satisfied nearly 11 million. civil action for compensation for pecuniary damage to the State of Lithuania
As reported at the hearing by Judge Ernestas Rimšelis, who chaired the hearing panel of the case, the complaints of two convicted persons, the complaint of the Attorney General’s Office and the complaint of the victims Robertas and Ona Povilaitis were partially satisfied after the examination of the case.
G. Ivanov was sentenced to a combined imprisonment of five years. In an earlier decision, he was sentenced to four years in prison.
The court increased Yuri Melis’ prison term from seven years to three years and sentenced him to a cumulative prison term of ten years.
The court also included in the sentence imposed on J. Melis the seven years that he spent in detention and voluntarily serving the sentence previously imposed, which has not yet entered into force, for which he will have to serve almost three more years in prison. .
In total, the Court of Appeals commuted the sentences of 16 of the 67 people convicted in the case.
E.Rimšelis also reported that the part of the previous court verdict on civil lawsuits is being modified.
They jointly sentenced victim Robert Povilaitis to 50,000. EUR, Ona Povilaitiene – 75 thousand. 10.8 million euros for compensation for moral damages, for the State of Lithuania for pecuniary damage ”, announced the judge at the hearing on Wednesday.
The court also overturned the 10-year prison sentence imposed on former Soviet Defense Minister Dmitry Yazov after his death last year.
We will add
On March 27, 2019, the victims of the Vilnius Regional Court appealed against the victims, the convicted persons, the lawyers and the prosecutors.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, those convicted were sentenced to excessively lenient sentences, depending on the crimes. According to her, when sentencing seven convicts, the court did not take into account their role in crimes against humanity and war crimes, some of which were sentenced to custodial sentences lower than those established by law.
In this criminal case, 67 people were convicted and sentenced to between four and 14 years.
Among those convicted is 94-year-old former Soviet Defense Minister Dmitry Yazov, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison by the court in absentia. Died last year.
Vladimir Uschopchik, a former commander of the Vilnius garrison of the Soviet army, was sentenced to 14 years in prison, and a former KGB officer, Mikhail Golovatov, was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Most of the defendants were sentenced in absentia because Russia and Belarus refused to extradite them.
The verdict was personally heard by two convicts: Yuri Mel and Gennady Ivanov.
Russia refused to cooperate with Lithuania in the January 13 case and rejected a request to question former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
Almost 700 people have been identified as victims in this case and around a thousand people have been interviewed as witnesses.
On the night of January 13, 1991, 14 people were killed when Soviet troops stormed the Vilnius television tower and the Radio and Television Committee building.
The Soviets attempted to overthrow the legitimate government of Lithuania by military force, which declared the country’s independence from the Soviet Union on March 11, 1990.
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