General Uskhopchik: “Dead bodies to TV tower were carried from all over Lithuania”
- 18.09.2009, 12:52
The former deputy minister of defence of Belarus, wanted by the General Prosecutor’s Office of Lithuania, answered questions to journalists.
Retired General Lieutenant Vladimir Uskhopchik, the commander of Vilnius garrison of the Soviet Army in 1991 and former deputy minister of defence of Belarus in early 2000th, works now for Belvneshpromservis company.
Vladimir Uskhopchik says he doesn’t hide and is ready to give answers to questions.
Radio Svaboda journalists reminded the former deputy minister about the conversation about him during Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s visit to Vilnius. “If you have claims to our residents, you can express your claims in accordance with the international law,” Alyaksandr Lukashenka told journalists who asked why Minsk doesn’t extradite Vladimir Uskhopchik to Lithuania. “Give your materials and we’ll take appropriate decisions,” he stated.
Vladimir Uskhopchik was asked if he was afraid of being extradited to Lithonia, the country that suspects him of the attempted coup in January 1991. Vladimir Uskhopchik said to this:
“The talks that I allegedly made decisions led to killing of people are lies. How could people die if I hadn’t given an order to soldiers to take ammunition? Secondly, it is rather a political event. The guilty persons should be looked for in another place, but not in Minsk.
Vladimir Uskhopchik doesn’t exclude the events of January 1991, when civilians were killed during the army’s attack on the TV center, may have been a “provocation” and “dead bodies were carried to the TV tower from all over Lithuania”. However, General doesn’t say everything he knows about the army involved in this conflict:
“It’s not so important who was there. I know well about the people who were there. This is a question to Moscow, to their government. But I can claim, no rounds for that aim were given to the soldiers and officers I was in charge of.”
Bui why then does Vladimir Uskhopchik avoid talking to Lithuanian law enforcement bodies investigating this case and suspecting him of the “attempted coup”?
“Why did I leave the country? I was transferred. I came to Vilnius from Afghanistan. Vilnius is a beautiful city, the country is beautiful. I was going to stay there. But then was a coup. What should I, the division commander, have done? It’s funny,” General says.
Uskhopchik said to a question “Would you go to Lithuanian prosecutors, if you were summoned?”:
“To Lithuanian prosecutors? But there are own procuracy agencies in Belarus.”
According to former deputy minister of defence Uskhopchik, Belarusian prosecutors, as well as Lithuanian ones, have never been interested in me. Vladimir Uskhopchik said he had explained those events to Soviet investigators 18 years ago, but “there is no such state as the Soviet Union anymore”.
The General Prosecutor’s Office of Lithuania says since 1993, requests have repeatedly been sent to the General Prosecutor’s Office of Belarus in respect of Vladimir Uskhopchik in relation with the events in 1991. Chief Prosecutor of the International Relations and Legal Assistance Division Rolandas Tilindis said Vladimir Uskhopchik and some other persons is still suspected in the unsolved case:
“The tanks, which belonged to the division under Uskhopchik’s command, couldn’t have driven to the TV center without his order. So we suppose that we have grounds to question him about our suspicions.”
Rolandas Tilindis believes Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s statement “gave a new momentum to this case investigation”.
A mass rally near the parliament building after seizure of the Vilnius TV Center by the Soviet troops on January 14, 1991. Thirteen civilians were killed during the operation on the night of January 13/14, 1991.