Prosecutor General of Belarus: We won’t extradite General Uskhopchyk to Lithuania

Prosecutor General of Belarus Ryhor Vasilevich states that there is no legal basis for extradition of Uladzimir Uskhopchyk to the Lithuanian side.

“There are no legal and juridical reasons for extradition of General Uskhopchyk to Lithuania,” stated Vasilevich at a press-conference in Minsk, answering questions of Interfax.

He underlined that he “agrees with the position of Lithuanian president” Dalia Grybauskaitė who commented on this topic last week.

It is repeated denial of the Belarusian Prosecutor’s office to the inquiry of Lithuanian prosecutor’s office to extradite General Uskhopchyk. Earlier it was informed with a reference to the Prosecutor-General's Office of Lithuania that it received an answer from the Belarusian Prosecutor-General's Office stating that Lithuania won’t receive assistance in the case of January 13. Repeated address with a request to carry out required procedural actions against the suspects U. Uskhopchyk and S. Juonene was sent to Belarus in autumn 2009”.

Lithuanian mass media with a reference to the Lithuanian Prosecutor-General's Office, inform that “the Belarusian Prosecutor-General's Office reiterated its position that activities of the suspects are estimated by it under the laws in force then, the laws of the Soviet Union, as an intention to defend the constitutional order of that state and its territorial integrity, so no legal assistance could be offered”.

In her turn, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė in an interview to Lithuanian radio stated that Lithuania has no legal grounds to demand extradition of Uskhopchyk from Belarus. “I have conclusions of our Prosecutor’s office, and they include the things they usually do not say publically. For instance, one sentence that interested me greatly: “Lithuania has no legal grounds o demand extradition of Uskhopchyk, a citizen of Belarus, under the bilateral agreement currently in force”. If the agreement does not offer such a possibility, what has the Prosecutor’s office been doing for the last 20 years? Imitated work? Sending requests knowing that a citizen cannot be extradited under this agreement?” Lithuanian media quoted her.

As said by Grybauskaitė, under such conditions when extradition is impossible under the agreement, she would look for a way out in a political dialogue.

At the same time, as charter97.org informed, on January 13 the Foreign Ministry of Belarus handed a note to Belarus in connection with a refusal to grant legal aid in the case of General Uskhopchyk. It is stated in the note that the reason offered by the Belarusian Prosecutor-General's Office contradicts bilateral agreements.

Vygaudas Ušackas, Foreign Minister of Lithuania, said in this connection that “Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s promise to cooperate with Lithuania in investigation of the case of January 13 which is especially important for our nation, which he gave during his visit to Vilnius, has not been fulfilled.”

“The Foreign Ministry in cooperation with the Prosecutor-General’s Office will do its best for the criminal prosecution to be continued. We hope that Belarus will estimate justice not according to the laws of the totalitarian state which once existed, the state which has caused a lot of harm, sufferings and victims to Belarus’ citizens as well, but will be guided by principles of respect to human rights, democracy and good neighbourhood practices,” Vygaudas Ušackas said.

General Uladzimir Uskhopchyk was commander of the Vilnius garrison during the events of January 13, 1991. 14 persons were killed in Vilnius then and more than a thousand were injured during storming of the TV tower and the Lithuanian TV and Radio office by the Soviet army. There was a period when Uskhopchyk was appointed deputy minister of defence of Belarus.