A. Radkevičius, who previously served in the army of the Soviet Union, is currently fighting on the side of Ukraine against Russia, which attacked his country, the man says that he cannot attend the hearing of his case in Lithuania due to his service in the army.
“He believes that the act has lost its dangerousness,” Arvydas Verpečinskas, the lawyer representing A. Radkevičiis in Lithuania, who was appointed by the state of Lithuania, told BNS.
The lawyer was unable to communicate with his client, he told BNS that he had previously communicated only with A. Radkevičius’ lawyers from Kyiv.
A three-judge panel of the Supreme Court of Lithuania will examine the complaint of a Ukrainian citizen on Wednesday.
“There will be an oral hearing. A. Radkevičius was served the documents by his lawyer in Ukraine, there was no summons, there was a notice, since the cassation complaint was filed by himself. A reply has come back with confirmation that he is aware of the hearing,” court representative Rimantė Krauliše informed BNS.
The criminal police have been searching for the Ukrainian convicted in the January 13 case for some time.
Last December, the verdict was sent to the Kaunas County Chief Police Commissariat.
A. Radkevičius informed the Lithuanian Court of Appeal that he had admitted his guilt, and already in this court he wrote to release him from criminal responsibility or at least reduce the punishment.
Last year, the Court of Appeal reduced the sentence to A. Radkevičius by giving him one and a half years of imprisonment instead of the four years previously imposed. After the verdict of the Court of Appeal, this sentence became legal.
The court counted the more than five months spent in detention in Greece – from September 2021 to February 2022 – in the sentence, so in reality A. Radkevičiaus should serve a little more than a year in prison.
The chairman of the appeals court, Nerijus Meilutis, then said that the court saw no reason to change the type of punishment and left the prison sentence, which A. Radkevičius must actually serve. The court assessed all the circumstances – the dangerousness of the crimes, the interests of society and the victims.
The judges did not agree with the arguments of the complaint that the execution of the orders of the higher commanders should be considered as a circumstance removing the responsibility of the convicted person.
During the events of January 1991, A. Radkevičius was a 23-year-old soldier.
Currently, 53-year-old A. Radkevičius was sentenced to four years in prison in absentia by the first instance court in the January 13 case for driving a tank that took part in the events near the Press Palace.
The panel of judges of the appellate court assessed the totality of arguments – a number of documents characterizing the personality of the convicted person were submitted, including age, health data, occupations, activities, lack of convictions.
The data presented to the court show that the convict was injured during the fighting with Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine in 2015-2016, and became disabled as a result of his injuries.
In the January 13 case, A. Radkevičius was found guilty and sentenced according to five articles of the Criminal Code, which provide for responsibility for the treatment of people prohibited by international law, killing, maiming, torturing or other inhumane treatment of persons protected by international humanitarian law, or violating the protection of their property. , also found guilty of prohibited war attack and use of prohibited means of war.
On January 11, 1991, Soviet soldiers armed with automatic machines and machine guns, striking with their fists, intimidated the civilians who were actively resisting near the Press House. The additional forces of Soviet soldiers who arrived in tanks, among whom was the tank mechanic driver A. Radkevičius, lined up in front of the Press House and launched a repeated attack on the Press House, were fired with blank cartridges, about 50 civilians suffered acoustic and other injuries.
A Ukrainian citizen was detained in Greece in the fall of 2021, but the Supreme Court of this country decided not to extradite him to Lithuania.
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