An appeal is pending in the case of the events of January 1991

The Lithuanian Court of Appeal has scheduled on September 15 to begin consideration of complaints against the judgment of the Vilnius Regional Administrative Court in the case of the events of January 1991. Consideration of appeals was supposed to begin on March 26 of this year, however, on March 16, due to the coronavirus pandemic in Lithuania, a nationwide quarantine was declared. New dates for the proceedings have been set several times, but the situation with the coronavirus has still not allowed opening a case. The meeting is not held in the courthouse, where it is impossible to comply with the requirements for social distance, but in one of the auditoriums of the University. Mykolas Romeris, with a capacity of 400 people. In January 1991, in a situation of political dual power in street clashes between opponents of the USSR and those who wanted Lithuania to remain part of the Soviet Union, 14 people were killed in Vilnius. The Lithuanian side blamed the Soviet military and the political leadership of the USSR for the death of civilians. In total, 67 citizens of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine were charged under articles for "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity". These countries have responded negatively to requests for assistance in legal proceedings against their citizens.