Pre-trial investigation to establish the cause of Vytautas Pociūnas's death and circumstances surrounding this event
On the establishment of death circumstances
On 2006-08-23 at approx. 8:15 hrs the corpse with marks of external injuries of Mr. Vytautas Pociūnas, who worked as advising minister in the Consulate General of the Republic of Lithuania in the City of Grodno (Republic of Belarus) was found at 15 Masherova Ave. (Brest City), in the construction site near the Inturist Hotel.
On 2006-08-23 the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania launched a pre-trial investigation in order to establish the cause of V. Pociūnas’s death and surrounding circumstances (code No. 555000, criminal case No. 19-1-002-06).
On 2006-11-30 Mr. Justas Laucius, Prosecutor of Organized Crime and Corruption Investigation Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office dropped the investigation on the grounds of Article 3 Section 1 Subsection 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Republic of Lithuania because pre-trial investigation revealed that V. Pociūnas died as a result of an accident and there were no indications of an act constituting either a criminal offence or a misdemeanour.
On 2007-06-29 Mrs. Liudvika Pociūnienė, widow of the deceased V. Pociūnas, lodged an appeal requesting to revoke the decision of Prosecutor J. Laucius and resume the pre-trial investigation.
On 2007-07-13 Mr. Algimantas Kliunka, Chief Prosecutor of Organized Crime and Corruption Investigation Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office reached a decision to dismiss the appeal of the aggrieved party Mrs. L. Pociūnienė with regard to the resumption of pre-trial investigation and left the 2006-11-30 decision by Prosecutor J. Laucius to drop the investigation in force.
On 2007-08-09 the aggrieved party Mrs. L. Pociūnienė and her defence counsel Mr. Kęstutis Čilinskas filed an appeal to Vilnius City 2nd District Court requesting to resume pre-trial investigation.
On 2007-09-19 the pre-trial judge of Vilnius City 2nd District Court granted the appeal of the aggrieved party Mrs. L. Pociūnienė and her defence counsel Mr. K. Čilinskas and resumed pre-trial investigation into the said criminal case.
On 2009-02-24 Mr. Mindaugas Gylys, Prosecutor of Pre-Trial Investigation Control Division of the Prosecutor General’s Office took a decision to drop pre-trial investigation in this criminal case regarding the fact of V. Pociūnas’s death because it was determined that no act constituting either a criminal offence or a misdemeanour had been committed.
On 2009-03-25 Mr. Zenonas Burokas, Chief Prosecutor of Pre-Trial Investigation Control Division of the Prosecutor General’s Office reached a decision to dismiss the appeal of the aggrieved party Mrs. L. Pociūnienė and her defence counsel Mr. J. Butkus with regard to the decision of Prosecutor M. Gylys to drop the pre-trial investigation.
On 2009-05-14 Vilnius City 1st District Court revoked the decision of 2009-03-25 by Chief Prosecutor of Pre-Trial Investigation Control Division of the Prosecutor General’s Office Z. Burokas and resumed the pre-trial investigation.
On 2009-05-21 the Prosecutor General’s Office lodged an appeal against the ruling dd. 2009-05-14 by Vilnius City 1st District Court to Vilnius Regional Court.
On the slander of V. Pociūnas
On 2007-07-12 the Prosecutor General’s Office received an application of informal public movement Piliečių Santalka (Assembly of Citizens) and a number of people famous in the sphere of culture whereby it was requested to initiate a pre-trial investigation on the grounds of public dissemination of deceitful stories concerning the deceased V. Pociūnas which could subsequently lead to public contempt and undermine respect for his memory.
On 2007-07-13 Mr. Gintas Ivanauskas, Prosecutor of Organized Crime and Corruption Investigation Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office reached a decision to refuse to initiate a pre-trial investigation into the facts of public dissemination of certain information about the deceased because there were no signs of an act constituting a misdemeanour.
On 2007-08-14 Mr. Algimantas Kliunka, Chief Prosecutor of Organized Crime and Corruption Investigation Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office decided to refuse to launch a pre-trial investigation into the facts of public dissemination of the version of possible cause of State Security Department officer Mr. V. Pociūnas’s death which had been previously investigated by a number of prosecutors and received a lot of attention and discussion from the public.