6.  The applicant was born in 1935 and lived in Kalvarija. She died on 8 April 2017.
7.  In December 1993 a large sum of money disappeared from A.G.’s mother’s home in the town of Kalvarija. A.G. suspected the applicant’s son R.A., and R.A.’s friend, Z.V., of having stolen the money.
8.  As later established by the Court of Appeal (see paragraph 40 below), on 19 April 1994 A.G., acting with accomplices, forced R.A. and Z.V. into a car and drove them to a forest in Kalvarija. R.A. and Z.V. were tied to a tree, interrogated, beaten, put in a hole in the ground and, when they tried to escape, shot, stabbed and thus killed. Both victims were then buried in the forest in an attempt to hide the evidence. Their bodies were never found.
9.  On 8 July 1994 the applicant’s daughter reported to the police that her brother R.A. had disappeared.  Having examined the material indicating that on 19 April 1994 R.A. had been placed in a car and had not returned, on 29 August 1994 the police opened a criminal investigation into charges of unlawful deprivation of liberty.
10.  In autumn 1994 the authorities started connecting A.G. to the disappearance of the applicant’s son and Z.V. On 25 October 1994 A.G. was arrested and placed in pre-trial detention. However, as later established by court decisions, when in October 1994 two witnesses gave false testimony that they had seen the two missing persons – R.A. and Z.V. – alive in Klaipėda, on 4 November 1994 A.G. was released from pre‑trial detention.
11.  The criminal investigation into the charges of unlawful deprivation of liberty continued. The authorities questioned a number of witnesses, including A.G., who had also been questioned as a suspect earlier. In order to eliminate contradictions between the witnesses’ testimony, the authorities conducted several formal confrontations (akistata). As noted by the Government, several forensic expert examinations were performed with regard to the seized vehicle allegedly used in the kidnapping, but no traces of blood were found in that vehicle.
12.  On 29 November 1994 the pre-trial investigator took the decision to suspend the criminal proceedings, because R.A. and Z.V. could not be located and there were no objective grounds for establishing who was responsible for their disappearance. The police were instructed to continue searching for R.A. and Z.V., as well as for those who were responsible for their disappearance.
According to the Government, the applicant did not appeal against that decision.
13.  The Government also stated that afterwards R.A. had been considered a missing person (dingęs be žinios). In order to find him, the authorities had entered information into the relevant registers and databases. Various police records had been inspected. R.A. had been sought in medical establishments. Information with regard to unidentified corpses had been checked in order to look for similarities. The media had also been employed to ask the general public for assistance. The search had been closed on 26 May 2004 because of the expiry of the statutory limitation period. Before closing the search, R.A.’s relatives had been questioned once again, and the matter of whether R.A. had crossed the Lithuanian border had been verified.
14.  According to the Government, within the context of another criminal case instituted in April 2004 regarding an attempt to murder A.G., information was received that A.G. could have been involved in R.A.’s and Z.V.’s disappearance. According to the documents before the Court, in June 2004 the Prosecutor General office asked the Criminal Police Bureau to continue investigating the disappearance.
15.  On 24 January 2005 the Criminal Police Bureau found that A.G., acting together with G.S. and G.M., had killed R.A. and Z.V. (see paragraph 8 above). The Criminal Police Bureau thus opened a criminal investigation into the murder of two persons. It appears that the evidence against A.G. consisted of witness testimony, including the testimony of two witnesses who agreed to testify on the condition that they could do so anonymously, as well as the secret surveillance of another witness who had misled the investigators in 1994 (see paragraph 10 above).
16.  On 13 June 2005 the police wished to question A.G., but he could not be found either at his home or at his place of work. Two days later, on 15 June 2005 the authorities issued a decision to charge A.G. with the murder of two persons. The following day an operative search (operatyvinė paieška) in respect of A.G. was announced. By 24 June 2005 the authorities obtained information that A.G. was already abroad, possibly in Latvia, and planned to travel to either the United States of America or Kazakhstan. On 30 June 2005 a court authorised A.G.’s detention, in the event that he was found.
17.  On 18 July 2005 a prosecutor specified (patikslino) charges against A.G. and charged him with the aggravated murder of two persons (compare paragraph 11 above). Noting that the operative search which had been announced earlier had not brought about any results, the prosecutor announced a national and international search in respect of A.G. (vietinė ir tarptautinė paieška). On 16 August 2005 the Prosecutor General’s Office issued a European arrest warrant in respect of A.G.
18.  In December 2005 the Criminal Police Bureau obtained information that A.G. could be in Kazakhstan, and it noted that it intended to contact the Kazakhstan authorities in order to establish A.G.’s exact whereabouts and to seek his arrest and extradition to Lithuania.
19.  A.G was arrested on 17 March 2006, when he came to the Prosecutor General’s Office in Vilnius. He was questioned as a suspect in R.A.’s and Z.V.’s murder. He denied any involvement. By that time, the authorities had questioned a number of witnesses, performed searches, sent a legal aid request to Latvia, asked for information from the Lithuanian embassy in the United States of America, and also had agents travel to Ukraine, where one of A.G.’s accomplices had been apprehended. The documents before the Court also show that between June 2005 and March 2007 the Criminal Police Bureau investigator repeatedly questioned the suspects and organised formal confrontations between them, so that any inconsistent testimony would be clarified.
20.  In response to a request by the applicant of 12 June 2006, on 19 September 2006 a prosecutor granted her civil claimant (civilinis ieškovas) status in the case regarding her son’s murder.
21.  The applicant’s daughter had been granted the status of a victim (nukentėjusioji) on 12 June 2006. For her part, on 19 September 2006 the applicant was recognised as a victim in the criminal case regarding her son’s murder.
22.  In September 2006 the prosecutor also imposed a restriction on A.G.’s real property.
23.  From 17 March to 22 November 2006 A.G. was again detained pending trial, including by a ruling of the Vilnius Regional Court of 20 October 2006. The applicant appealed against that ruling.
24.  As later established by a court decision (see paragraph 40 below), whilst being detained, on 22 March 2006 A.G. had attempted to offer a bribe of 20,000 Lithuanian litai (LTL, approximately 5,800 euros (EUR)) to the Criminal Police Bureau investigator, in an attempt to persuade the latter not to actively pursue leads in the criminal murder case, so that the remand measure which had been imposed on him – pre-trial detention – could be replaced with a less stringent one.
25.  On 22 November 2006 the Court of Appeal ordered A.G.’s release from pre-trial detention. Whilst acknowledging that, at that stage, it was not pronouncing judgment on the question of A.G.’s guilt, the appellate court nevertheless noted that the evidence corroborating his guilt on the charges of murder was very scarce to support his detention pending trial. In particular, although the victims had allegedly been killed as early as 1994, their bodies had still not been found, and A.G. had been charged with their murder only in 2005. The Court of Appeal also pointed out that there was no evidence that A.G. could hide from the investigation, although these had been the grounds relied on by the prosecutor in support of A.G.’s detention. On the contrary, the case material showed that, when summoned in March 2006, A.G. had attended the Prosecutor General’s Office. His wife had also later taken his passport to the prosecutor, which, according to the Court of Appeal, showed that he had not been hiding that document. Moreover, between June 2005 and February 2006 – the period which the prosecutor referred to as the period when A.G. had been hiding from the authorities – in reality, A.G. had been working in Lithuania and receiving a salary. Similarly, although the prosecutor claimed that in the summer of 2005 A.G. had been recognised as a suspect and a national and international search in respect of him had been announced, in reality, the police had not been actively searching for A.G. This was because, during the relevant time, A.G. had taken part in an unrelated court hearing in Lithuania and had also crossed the Lithuanian State border a number of times. It was very plausible that A.G. had not even known that he was being sought by the authorities. For the Court of Appeal, there were also no grounds to hold that A.G. could hide from the authorities abroad, because he had not done so, in spite of his numerous trips to foreign countries.
26.  The Court of Appeal acknowledged that the case was particularly complex and the case file was voluminous, given that the case involved more than one suspect, numerous witnesses had been questioned, and many forensic examinations, including DNA, had had to be performed. Even so, the appellate court pointed to the inconsistency in relation to the arguments for A.G.’s detention. In particular, in October 2006 and in a co-accused’s case, the prosecutor had asserted that all necessary actions in the criminal investigation had already been performed, and that therefore it was unlikely that that co-accused would hide from the authorities and there were no grounds for his pre-trial detention. However, in A.G.’s case, in October 2006 the Vilnius Regional Court had extended A.G.’s detention, considering that many investigative actions had yet to be performed. For the Court of Appeal, this meant that, with regard to the collection of evidence, double standards had been applied to the two co-accused in the case, which raised doubts as to the objectivity of the criminal investigation. The Court of Appeal also considered that such actions could be seen as discrimination under the European Convention on Human Rights. Furthermore, as was apparent from the material presented by A.G.’s lawyer, a DNA examination had already been performed in the case. This fact had also been acknowledged by the prosecutor, who had also confirmed that all the main investigative actions had already been completed. The Court of Appeal thus considered that continuing A.G.’s detention would be unnecessary, and would risk breaching Article 5 of the Convention.
27.  The Court of Appeal lastly observed that A.G. had no prior convictions, and had a family, two minor daughters, a permanent place of residence, and a job. Accordingly, a less stringent remand measure could be imposed on him, and it was for the prosecutor to choose what that measure would be, given that the court could not choose another remand measure by itself.
28.  On 22 November 2006 the prosecutor thus varied the remand measure in respect of A.G. and imposed on him an obligation not to leave his place of residence. A.G. was also ordered to periodically register with the police (įpareigojimas periodiškai registruotis policijos įstaigoje) every other day, and he had his personal documents – identity card and passport – taken off him.
29.  On 1 February 2007 the prosecutor discontinued the criminal investigation into the murder charges in respect of A.G.’s co-accused. The prosecutor established that the co-accused had not wanted R.A. and Z.V. to die, and that it had been only A.G. who had exceeded their initial plan (vykdytojo ekscesas) to kidnap R.A. and Z.V. and had murdered them.
30.  In August 2007 A.G. asked that the criminal proceedings against him be discontinued on the grounds that pre-trial investigation had been going on too long. However, by a ruling of 28 August 2007 the Vilnius City Second District Court dismissed his complaint, noting that even after 22 November 2006 the investigators had continued to question suspects and witnesses, performing expert examinations on handwriting and documents, as well as other investigative actions. The court pointed out that the case file was voluminous, that the crime in question had been committed a long time ago, and that certain actions could not be performed because of A.G.’s illness in 2007.
31.  In January 2008 the applicant asked the Kaunas Regional Court to hear the criminal case without her being present. She submitted that her health was frail and that she could not face seeing her son’s murderer at the court hearing. She asked the court to rely on her earlier testimony given at the stage of the pre-trial investigation. The Government specified that the applicant had later taken part in one hearing before the trial court.
32.  The prosecutor drew up the bill of indictment on 11 October 2007 and transferred the case to the trial court. According to the chronology provided by the Government, afterwards the trial court held eighteen hearings, when witnesses were questioned and evidence was examined.
33.  By a judgment of 2 February 2009 the Kaunas Regional Court acquitted A.G. of R.A.’s and Z.V.’s murder and of the attempted bribery of a police investigator. The applicant and her daughter had participated in some of the hearings before the trial court.
The trial court ordered that the remand measures imposed on A.G. – the obligation not to leave his place of residence, the taking away his identity documents (passport and ID card), and the order to periodically register with the police – should be lifted and his identity documents returned. The trial court also rejected civil claims by the applicant and I.V. (the mother of the other person who had been killed).
Lastly, the trial court lifted the restrictions on A.G.’s real property (see paragraph 22 above).
34.  It transpires from the documents before the Court that A.G.’s identity documents were returned to him on 17 February 2009, after he requested this.
35.  Both the prosecutor and the applicant’s daughter appealed against the trial court’s judgment acquitting A.G.
36.  On 15 December 2010 the Court of Appeal upheld A.G.’s acquittal in relation to the charges of murder and attempted bribery of a police investigator, and left the civil claims by the applicant and I.V. unexamined.
37.  The prosecutor lodged an appeal on points of law, and by a ruling of 5 July 2011 the Supreme Court quashed the Court of Appeal decision of 15 December 2010 and remitted the case to the appellate court for fresh examination. The Supreme Court took note of the appellate court’s conclusion that the case was a complex one because it involved criminal charges for a serious crime that had been committed many years previously. It also found that, although the appellate court had examined the evidence by questioning not only some of those witnesses who had already been questioned before the first-instance court, but also some newly summoned witnesses, it had nevertheless failed to rule on some other evidence and had not questioned an anonymous witness, even though earlier the appellate court had considered that witness’s testimony pertinent to the case. Furthermore, the appellate court had not answered all the questions regarding the evaluation of evidence which had been raised in the appeal against the first-instance court’s judgment.
38.  Once the case was returned to the Court of Appeal, the latter completed the examination of the merits of the case during the hearing of 12 October 2012, announcing that the judgment be pronounced on 27 November 2012 (see paragraph 40 below).
39.  It transpires that no remand measure was imposed on A.G. during the examination of the case by the Supreme Court and by the Court of Appeal.
40.  On 27 November 2012 the Court of Appeal reversed the Kaunas Regional Court’s judgment of 2 February 2009, and on the basis of all the evidence found A.G. guilty of the aggravated murder of two persons – R.A. and Z.V. – under Article 105 § 2 (2 and 5) of the old Criminal Code (see paragraph 49 below). The Court of Appeal established that that crime had been committed against persons in a particularly vulnerable situation (bejėgiškos būklės), since both R.A. and Z.V. had been shot after they had been beaten and placed in a hole in the ground with their hands tied, which was an aggravating circumstance. The Court of Appeal also found A.G. guilty of the attempted bribery of a pre-trial investigation officer, under Article 227 § 2 of the new Criminal Code (see paragraphs 24 above and 50 below). A.G. was sentenced to fourteen years’ imprisonment, to be served in a correctional home (pataisos namuose). The time which he had already spent in pre-trial detention – from 25 October 1994 to 4 November 1994 and from 17 March 2006 to 22 November 2006 – was to count as time served in relation to that sentence. The Court of Appeal noted that A.G. had no prior convictions; he worked, was married and had four children. Moreover, the criminal proceedings had lasted rather a long time, which was a reason to impose a less severe punishment than the maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
41.  By the same judgment, the Court of Appeal also awarded the applicant and I.V. (the mother of the other murdered person), LTL 150,000 (approximately EUR 43,500) each, as compensation for non-pecuniary damage in respect of the loss of their sons.
42.  According to the Government, on 6 December 2012 the Kaunas Regional Court sent the judgment convicting A.G. to the Marijampolė police, so that it could be executed.
43.  As the documents before the Court show, on 11 December 2012 the police established that A.G. had absconded to avoid serving his sentence. The same day, the police announced a national and international search in respect of him. The Government provided the Court with a copy of an authorisation, confirmed by a notary, which A.G. had signed on 28 November 2012 in the Smolensk Region in the Russian Federation, empowering his wife to represent his interests before the Lithuanian institutions. The Government specified that in November 2013 A.G.’s wife had presented that authorisation to a court in Lithuania when she had asked to familiarise herself with the applicant’s criminal file.
44.  On 26 February 2013 the Lithuanian authorities issued a European arrest warrant in respect of A.G. The authorities noted, inter alia, that A.G. had been physically present when the Kaunas Regional Court had acquitted him on 2 February 2009, when the Court of Appeal had delivered a ruling on 15 December 2010, when the Supreme Court had issued a ruling on 5 July 2011, and when the Court of Appeal had heard his case afterwards. He had also been physically present on 12 October 2012, when the hearing on the merits had been completed and the appellate court had adjourned pronouncement of the judgment. It had been A.G.’s lawyer who had been physically present when the Court of Appeal had pronounced the judgment of 27 November 2012.
45.  On 6 December 2012 the Kaunas Regional Court issued a writ of execution, pursuant to which the applicant and I.V. were to get LTL 150,000 each from A.G. On 11 December 2012 the applicant took the writ of execution to the bailiff, who on the following day accepted the execution request and on that same day took a decision to seize A.G.’s property. It transpires from the documents before the Court that in the period April-July 2013 amounts totalling about EUR 400 were recovered to compensate for the execution costs of roughly the same value already paid by the applicant’s daughter. In July 2013 the bailiff decided to suspend the enforcement proceedings until A.G. was found. The applicant was informed about the decision to suspend the enforcement proceedings.
46.  The applicant’s daughter appealed against the Court of Appeal’s judgment convicting A.G. (see paragraphs 40 and 41 above), asking for A.G. to be ordered to serve his sentence not in a correctional home, which was an institution with a less stringent regime, but in a prison. She pointed out that A.G. had killed her brother in a particularly cruel way when he had been particularly vulnerable. A.G., for his part, in his appeal on points of law, asked to be acquitted and for the criminal proceedings to be discontinued.
47.  By a final ruling of 25 June 2013, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeals on points of law by the applicant’s daughter and by A.G. The Supreme Court considered that the punishment imposed on A.G. had been just. At the Supreme Court hearing, A.G.’s wife admitted that her husband was abroad, but refused to disclose his whereabouts.
According to the information provided by the Government in 2017, A.G. had been granted refugee status in the Russian Federation (see also paragraph 80 below).