Prosecutors expand investigation into Lithuania border incident

Prosecutors have expanded a pre-trial investigation into a July incident involving border guards and migrants who tried to cross the Lithuania-Belarus border illegally in Lazdijai district, LRT reported. Investigators are examining whether the border guards properly performed their duties.

About 20 migrants attacked four border guards as officers tried to stop them. Some of the migrants, including some who were handcuffed, fled back to Belarus.

Rustamas Liubajevas, head of the State Border Guard Service, visited the Kapčiamiestis border guard station, where the officers on duty that evening were stationed. He described the incident as a routine work-related event and said he saw no reason to investigate or otherwise assess the officers’ actions.

“I am convinced that the officers acted according to the situation and all the risks that existed at the time. I am convinced that they acted correctly. There was no violation of the state border, and no one was injured,” Liubajevas told LRT television on Thursday.

The incident took place on July 26, after a tunnel being dug under the border was discovered. Migrants who tried to enter Lithuania through the tunnel attacked the border guards.

Interior Minister Martynas Katelynas has said he was not properly informed about the incident. He said he was initially told only that border guards had stopped the digging of the tunnel and learned other details on Wednesday afternoon from social media.

Katelynas said Liubajevas accepted responsibility for the incident’s significance not being properly assessed and for the minister not being adequately informed. The minister ordered an official inquiry into the incident and the inadequate reporting.

Investigation expanded

The initial investigation was launched on July 27 over the illegal crossing of the state border in the area overseen by the Kapčiamiestis border guard station of the Varėna border guard unit.

After assessing the available information concerning about 20 people’s attempted illegal border crossing and the illegal digging of the tunnel, the Prosecutor General’s Office said the investigation had been reclassified and expanded.

It will now continue under provisions of the Criminal Code concerning preparation to commit a crime and the illegal transfer of people across the state border.

The investigation was also expanded to clarify initial information and verify publicly reported details concerning the actions of State Border Guard Service officers responsible for organising and carrying out state border monitoring, control and protection. The facts will be assessed objectively and impartially.

Investigators are also examining whether a criminal act involving resistance to a civil servant or a person performing public administration functions was committed.

The investigation has been assigned to the Second Criminal Prosecution Division of the Kaunas Regional Prosecutor’s Office. It is being conducted by State Border Guard Service officers.