Seven police, border and customs officers were brutally murdered at the Medininkai checkpoint on the Lithuanian-Belarusian border in early hours of July 31, 1991, while one survived but incurred severe injuries.
"Twenty-two years after the event, we have to state today that merely one of the guilty ones has been brought to justice. All the rest remain free and out of our reach. They may never be reached and answer for the lives they took and the intimidation of a young and independent country," Gedvilas said about the murderers.
"However, even this is the case – we have no right to give up. We have to move forward and do everything in our power to execute justice. We have no right to quiet down, we cannot stop believing in inevitability of punishment: the men who died here are our integral part. Their death is one of the most vivid symbols of struggle for recognition of the Lithuanian independence," the parliamentary speaker said at the ceremony.
Seven officers were shot dead during the 1991, namely, Mindaugas Balavakas and Algimantas Juozakas of the Special Division ARAS, Juozas Janonis and Algirdas Kazlauskas of the traffic police and customs officers Antanas Musteikis, Stanislovas Orlavičius and Ričardas Rabavičius. The only survivor, customs officer Tomas Šernas, suffered severe brain damage and remains in wheelchair.
Prosecutors have qualified the massacre as a crime against humanity and war crime, with suspects including Cheslav Mlynik, Andrey Laktionov, and Alexander Ryzhov. Russia has refused to extradite them to Lithuania.
Only one person has been sentenced on the charges: a Vilnius court in spring of 2011 found Latvian citizen Konstantin Mikhailov (formerly Nikulin) guilty of complicity in the killing and sentenced him to life in prison.
Lithuanian prosecutors have filed an appeal against the verdict, seeking that Mikhailov be sentenced for crimes against humanity. The convict has also appealed against the court ruling, categorically pleading not guilty.
