Pre-trial investigation No. 01-1-31828-22.
2022 08 16
On 16 August 2022, at approximately 6:30 p.m., at the “Old Town Trio” hotel, Raugyklos St. 15A, Vilnius, officers of the Criminal Intelligence Division of the Vilnius Border Detachment — senior investigator G. C. and investigator L. M. — while verifying information regarding a person who had entered the territory of the country without the required documents, detained such a person who identified himself as a citizen of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, M. S. M. S. M., born on 31 March 1990 (according to his own statements). Pursuant to Resolution of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania No. XIV-1244 of 28 June 2022 “On the Introduction of a State of Emergency,” on 16 August 2022 at approximately 10:10 p.m., junior specialists V. Š. and A. P. of the Lavoriškės Border Checkpoint of the Vilnius Border Detachment refused entry to this person into the Republic of Lithuania (coordinates 6069938, 612350 (LKS94)).
When questioned as a witness, A. P. stated that he works as a junior specialist at the Lavoriškės Border Checkpoint. That summer, he does not recall the exact date, he was on duty in a mobile patrol during the night shift together with junior specialist V. Š., in the section from Lavoriškės to Buivydžiai. At that time, a state of emergency had been introduced because persons entering the territory of Lithuania without documents were being detained at the Belarusian border and returned to the Republic of Belarus.
On the evening in question, a detained person was brought to them. He recalls that the person was neatly dressed, wearing a white T-shirt, possibly jeans, of darker complexion, approximately 175 cm tall, spoke English, with neatly styled black, slightly curly hair. He was brought by the shift supervisor, who instructed them to return the person to Belarus. V. Š. informed the person in English that he had to return to the Republic of Belarus.
He was released near State Border Marker No. 1163, between the localities of Beržytė and Kloniškės, approximately 8–10 km from the nearest bank of the Neris River and 10 km from Buivydžiai. The officers did not question him further and were unaware of his subsequent plans. After several hours, the person again approached the fence, asking to be admitted into Lithuania, but he was informed that this was not possible and was shown the direction in which to go.
The location was monitored for approximately half an hour, but no one returned. Since at that time many persons without documents were entering the country and a state of emergency had been introduced, the initial data were collected by the first officers who detained such persons. If a person was returned to Belarus, this meant that the factual circumstances of his unlawful presence in the territory of Lithuania had been established. The person was healthy, clean, had a backpack and a telephone; the witness had no further information about him.
On 21 August 2022 at 9:28 a.m., representatives of the Fire and Rescue Service retrieved from the Neris River, near Kūniškės village, Buivydžiai eldership, Vilnius district (coordinates 54.828731, 25.742722), an unidentified male body in a state of decomposition and brought it to the left bank.
From the official report of 7 July 2023 by senior investigator D. M. of the Activities Division of the Švenčionys District Police Commissariat of the Vilnius County Chief Police Commissariat, entitled “On Data from Map Analysis,” it is evident that, in the pre-trial investigation material No. 01-1-31828-22 concerning the determination of the cause of death of a person who had entered the territory of the country without the required documents, map points (coordinates) were analyzed indicating where the said person’s body was found on 21 August 2022 and where he was refused entry into the territory of the Republic of Lithuania on 16 August 2022 (coordinates).
The straight-line distance from the place where the body was found (marked on the map with a green flag) to the place where entry into the country was refused (marked on the map with a red flag) is approximately 5 km, while the total distance along the border is approximately 8.32 km. From this, it may be assumed that the possible trajectory of the person’s movement ran along the state border.