Prosecutors lack information on allegedly injured border guard

Lithuania’s Prosecutor’s Office has questioned all border guards involved in a late July incident near the border with Belarus but says it has no information about an officer allegedly being injured, LRT reported.

General Prosecutor’s Office representative Milda Rimkė told BNS that investigators also had no data on officers’ injuries, sick leave or the alleged dragging of one officer. The circumstances of physical resistance to the officers’ detention actions are still being investigated, she said.

The statement followed a report by the Lrytas news portal that a border guard was slightly injured in the area of the Kapčiamiestis border post, part of the Varėna Border Guard Unit, and that migrants had tried to drag the officer towards Belarus. Sources cited by the portal said the officer was currently on sick leave. Vitalijus Jagminas, head of the Vilnius County pretrial investigation institutions trade union, also confirmed the sick leave to Lrytas.

Lrytas also reported that State Border Guard Service commander Rustamas Liubajevas had allegedly instructed officers what to say about the incident. Interior Minister Martynas Katelynas met Prosecutor General Nida Grunskienė on Friday over the matter. He said that if the information about an injured officer was confirmed, he saw no possibility for Liubajevas to remain in his post.

The State Border Guard Service said it could not comment on the circumstances while the pretrial investigations were under way. It is also conducting an internal inspection initiated by Katelynas over the allegedly inadequate communication about the incident.

Delfi first reported the incident last week. According to its account, four border guards set an ambush in the Kapčiamiestis border post area in Lazdijai District after detecting a tunnel being dug beneath the state border. The officers detained several migrants and handcuffed them, but about 20 foreigners attacked the guards during the detention. The officers fled, while the migrants, including those in handcuffs, escaped into Belarus.

The State Border Guard Service announced that a tunnel had been found and that migrants had escaped, but did not mention an attack on officers. Liubajevas repeatedly denied that the guards had been attacked, saying the service had been unable to establish such a fact.

Last week, the Prosecutor’s Office expanded and reclassified its pretrial investigation into illegal crossing of the state border in the Kapčiamiestis border post area. The investigation is also examining publicly reported information about the actions of State Border Guard Service officials responsible for organising and carrying out border surveillance, control and protection.