Medininkai massacre case closed on one suspect

Jan 19, 2009
TBT staff

VILNIUS - Lithuania's Prosecutor General's Office has closed the investigation on one of the suspects in the Medininkai massacre case.

Prosecutors had gathered enough information to confirm that Konstantin Mikhailov, an ex militiaman of the Soviet Union Interior Ministry Special Purpose Police Squad (OMON) in Riga was guilty of having been a part of the massacre.

According to BNS, the suspect, kept in custody in the Lukiskes Inquisition Ward, was informed of the end of investigation on Jan. 16. As per Lithuanian legislation, the suspect will be given time to familiarize himself  with and analyze the case, which will then go directly to trial. The time frame is still unknown.

Mikhailov, 40, is the only suspect in the Medininkai case to be officially charged with the suspicion of having partaken in the murder of seven Lithuanian officers, and the sole suspect accessible to investigators and the court. Mikhailov has been accused of first degree murder of two or more persons, which is punishable with a life sentence.

The suspect in the nearly 18-year-old murder case of seven Lithuanian officers and the injury of one more was detained by Latvian authorities on Nov. 28 2008 under the European arrest warrant issued by Lithuania.

Investigation is also underway for other suspected OMON members, squad commander Ceslov Mlynik, and militiamen Aleksander Ryzhov and Andrej Laktionov, who are yet to be extradited by Russia to Lithuania. The investigations are being conducted separately on those cases.

On the morning of July 31 1991, Soviet militiamen, murdered border guards Antanas Musteikis, Stanislovas Orlavicius, Aras SWAT unit officers Algimantas Juozakas and Mindaugas Balavakas, road police employees Juozas Janonis and Algirdas Kazlauskas. All died with shots to the head.

The sole officer who survived the attack was Tomas Sernas, who also sustained serious injuries at the time of the attack.

The data collected in the process of the pre-trial investigation allowed the prosecutors to suspect that the crime was done by hitmen of the former Soviet Union's militia special operations unit OMON from Riga, who were visiting the OMON base inVilniuson July 30, 1991.

The investigation of the manslaughter at Medininkai checkpoint is hindered by the fact that the suspects and many important witnesses reside in Russia.

The seven officers are believed to have been killed in Medininkai to cause confusion at the customs of Lithuania, having freshly declared independence.

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