Lietuva in brief - 2011-06-17

Former Soviet OMON officer Alexander Ryzhov has been caught and convicted, along with other gang members in St. Petersburg, reports lenta.ru. Ryzhov is wanted in Lithuania as a suspect in killings at the Medininkai border post in July 1991. Ryzhov was sentenced to a 15-year imprisonment for organizing a criminal gang and armed robberies.  He faces official charges on the killings of Lithuanian officers. Ryzhov, as well as the other suspects Andrej Laktionov and Ceslav Mlynik, are citizens of Russia, which so far has refused to extradite them. In May, former OMON officer Konstantin Mikhailov (previously Nikulin) was sentenced to life imprisonment. On July 31, 1991, Mindaugas Balavakas, Algimantas Juozakas, Juozas Janonis, Algirdas Kazlauskas, Stanislovas Orlavicius, Antanas Musteikis and Ricardas Rabavicius were killed in Medininkai. Only seriously injured Tomas Sernas survived.

Elder of the Seimas political group of the Social Democrats Party Algirdas Butkevicius says that the idea of taxing all cars opposes the principle of social justice, reports ELTA. “Taxing all cars is not socially fair as people use vehicles for different purposes. Some people leave their car in a garage to stay for the winter. Others use their cars on a daily basis. Such differences should be reflected in the introduction of a car tax,” Butkevicius said. The EC recommends Lithuania to reduce energy consumption and tax vehicles by 2013, in addition to other measures. Experts with the IMF have also repeatedly advised Lithuania to introduce the car tax.