The Lithuanian Court of Appeals has reduced the 4-year prison sentence for Oleksandr Radkevich, a Ukrainian citizen convicted in absentia in the high-profile January 13, 1991, Soviet crackdown case.
The reduced 18-month sentence came into force after the court’s ruling.
Radkevich, who served in the Soviet army in 1991, told the court earlier he could not attend the hearing in Vilnius in person as he was now fighting to defend Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.
Earlier, he notified the court in writing that he acknowledged his guilt and asked the Court of Appeals to release him from criminal responsibility or at least reduce his sentence.
Several years ago, Vilnius Regional Court sentenced Radkevich, now 53, to four years in prison for driving a tank involved in the bloody January 13, 1991, events near the Press House in Vilnius.
Last autumn, Radkevich was detained in Greece on a European arrest warrant issued by a Lithuanian court. However, the Supreme Court of Greece ruled on February 9 not to extradite him to Lithuania and he was released.
Radkevich is one of 67 people handed prison sentences in the trial. The majority of the defendants were convicted in absentia, as Russia and Belarus refused to extradite them.
Fourteen civilians were killed and hundreds more were injured when Soviet troops stormed the TV Tower and the Radio and Television Committee building in Vilnius in the early hours of January 13, 1991.
The Soviet Union used military force in its attempt to topple the government of Lithuania which had declared independence on March 11, 1990.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
