Prosecutor seeks two-year liberty restriction for border guard who shot driver

LRT reports that a prosecutor has asked a court to convict border guard Karolis Ilgevičius of killing a man while trying to detain him and of exceeding his official powers. Prosecutor Darius Šneideris is seeking a two-year sentence restricting Ilgevičius’s liberty.

At a hearing at Vilnius Regional Court on Wednesday, Šneideris said investigators had found no evidence that the driver intended to hit or injure a State Border Guard Service officer. “The driver wanted to escape from the officers, not deliberately injure them,” he said.

The prosecutor argued that officers had not exhausted other ways of stopping the car and that using a firearm was disproportionate. He said the shot was unsafe and did not comply with the principles of accurate shooting. The investigation found that Ilgevičius’s firearm was new and in working order, but that he had not received training in shooting at a moving target.

The incident happened in summer 2024 in Šalčininkai district, near the border with Belarus. Border guards were searching for drones reported to have flown into Lithuania carrying bundles of cigarettes. They spotted a car on the road, but its driver did not stop when officers signalled.

According to the investigation, Ilgevičius fired once at the departing car, although the driver posed no direct threat to officers, road safety or other people. The driver, Andžejus A., suffered a fatal injury to the back of his head and neck. The car hit a tree and stopped; officers found cigarettes and the driver’s body inside.

Prosecutors say the evidence indicates that Ilgevičius exceeded his authority when he shot and killed the driver while attempting to detain him, causing significant non-pecuniary harm to the victims, the State Border Guard Service and the state.

Ilgevičius, who is now a systems monitoring operator at the same border post, denies guilt. He has said he aimed at the car’s wheel. He also testified that he feared the driver might reach Tabariškės village and endanger people there, saying he had previously seen children on bicycles and women in the area.

The driver’s widow is seeking 120,000 euros in compensation: 50,000 euros for non-pecuniary damage and 3,500 euros for financial losses in her own claim, plus 70,000 euros in non-pecuniary damages on behalf of the couple’s children. Andžejus A. had previously been fined several times for cigarette smuggling.

Former State Border Guard Service chief Rustamas Liubajevas has said an adverse court ruling could set an unfavourable precedent for officers’ use of firearms. The courtroom was full of border guards during the prosecutor’s closing arguments, including deputy service chief Colonel Antanas Montvydas.