A lawyer of two defendants in the high-profile Soviet aggression case has been named a threat to national security after speaking to Kremlin-controlled media.
Lithuania’s intelligence service, the State Security Department (VSD), in a letter to the police said Ryšardas Burda was “ trying to provide legal justification for the historical narratives used by Russia” surrounding the 1940 occupation of Lithuania, as well as the country’s current legal status.
Burda is the lawyer for Yuri Mel, a tank driver sentenced in the January 13 case. The trial focused on the events of January 1991, when Soviet troops attempted to overthrow the Lithuanian government after it had declared independence in March 1990. Fourteen people died and hundreds were injured.
Read more: It’s been 30 years – January 1991 special
Last year, the Supreme Court of Lithuania reduced Mel's prison sentence from ten to nine years, which Burda viewed as a victory. The lawyer also defended KGB officer Mikhail Golovatov in the January 13 case.
"It turns out that I am a victim of the January 13 trial and have been recognised as a security threat. Because I defended [...] the convicted tank driver, Yuri Mel. That's our state's response to the lawyers," Burda told BNS.
The lawyer said he had lost his permit to possess a gas pistol and failed to obtain a permit to purchase a Category C firearm. The lawyer is now suing the VSD.
Speaking with BNS, Mindaugas Kukaitis, chairman of the Lithuanian Bar Association, said he was not aware of the VSD’s information on Burda.
"All I know is that his firearm permit was revoked. We have not received a VSD document on him being considered a threat to national security. If we received such a document, we would have to assess," Kukaitis told BNS.
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