The verdict of the Lithuanian district court in the criminal case on the events in Vilnius in January 1991 and international law. Accusation of “soviet aggression, war crimes and crimes against humanity”

Abstract

The article is a continuation of the doctrinal and legal analysis of the decision of the Vilnius District Court to give retroactive effect to the law, namely to impose a criminal penalty on the basis of articles of the Lithuanian Criminal Code of 2000 as amended in 2011 in relation to the events of 1991. The publication also examines the issue of the Court’s failure to refer to the UN Charter and the UN General Assembly Resolution of 1974 on the definition of aggression for the purpose of substantiating allegations of “Soviet aggression that began in 1940 and continued” against Lithuania. The Court’s qualification of the actions of units of the armed forces and law enforcement agencies of the USSR in January 1991 in Vilnius as war crimes and crimes against humanity on the basis of the application of the provisions of the Charter of the Nuremberg Military Tribunal, the Convention on the Inapplicability of the Statute of Limitations of 1968 and the Geneva Conventions of 1949 on the Protection of Victims of War are considered from critical positions. Taking into account the refutability of the Court’s statements about the alleged crimes committed by the Soviet Union in 1940–1991. acts of “occupation”, “aggression”, “crimes against humanity”, “war crimes” and other “crimes under international humanitarian law” justify the general conclusion about the illegality of the decision of the Vilnius Court on the application of the norms of Lithuanian national criminal legislation with reference and on the basis of the international legal acts considered in the publication.

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