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Mikhail Gorbachev in 2019
Photo: Mikhail Svetlov / Getty Images
30 years after the Soviet attempt to forcibly regain power in Lithuania, six citizens of the state in the Baltic States have filed lawsuits against the former Soviet head of state Mikhail Gorbachev.
According to the Lithuanian broadcaster LRT, the plaintiffs are the survivors of four people who were killed by Soviet forces on January 13, 1991.
Gorbachev had control of the Soviet military but failed to stop the "international crime" against Lithuanians, according to the complaint submitted on Thursday.
A total of 14 Lithuanian civilians were killed and more than 700 injured in the Moscow crackdown on January 1991.
In 2019, a Lithuanian court sentenced dozens of Soviet-era officials for war crimes.
The public prosecutor's office refused to investigate Gorbachev, who was then in power.
"Justice not complete"
"It is clear that the use of the armed forces would not have been possible without coordination with Gorbachev," said Robertas Povilaitis, who lost his father in the uprising.
Without considering the responsibility of the Supreme Commander in chief, "justice is not complete," he justified the complaint.
According to the LRT, the plaintiffs want to prove that Gorbachev personally had control over the troops and is therefore responsible for the deaths.
The violence of January 13, 1991 was part of the Kremlin's failed efforts to bring Lithuania to its knees after it split from the Soviet Union in March 1990.
In September 1991, Moscow recognized Lithuania as an independent state.
Most of the 67 people convicted of war criminals in Lithuania for the attack were tried in absentia, including former Soviet Defense Minister Dmitry Yasov, who died in 2020.
Gorbachev received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 for his role in ending the Cold War.
While several Soviet-era Lithuanian officials were jailed for their crimes, other suspects still reside in Russia and Belarus.
Relations between Russia and Lithuania have been tense since independence and especially since the Baltic state joined the European Union and NATO in 2004.
fek / AFP
