January 1991 case expected to reach Lithuanian court this summer

After the period is over, the prosecutors will write an indictment and hand over it to court. This is expected in the summer of 2015, the Prosecutor General‘s Office said.

Prosecutors said last November that the pre-trial investigation in connection to 69 suspects was completed.

More than 700 victims and 69 people suspected of crimes against humanity and war crimes, as well as their lawyers, are entitled to access to the materials. All of the suspects are citizens of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus who were leaders of the Communist Party, officials of the defence and interior ministries and the KGB in the 1990s and were involved in the tragic events in Vilnius that that saw 14 people killed and hundreds injured.

Two of the suspects are held in Lithuania, while the others are hiding form justice abroad, prosecutors say. They have issued European Arrest Warrants and called international search.

Suspicions in the case include treatment of people in a way banned by the international law, killing and injuring people protected by the international humanitarian law, illegal military attacks against civilians and use of prohibited military gear. The crimes are not subject to statute of limitations, and the investigation and trials can be held in absentia.

Over 1,000 unarmed Lithuanian civilians were injured and 14 were killed during an attempt by the Soviet army and Special Forces to take over the Vilnius TV Tower and the Radio and Television building on 13 January 1991.