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Investigative Committee head tells reporters about investigations into Molotov cocktail attack on Lithuanian embassy, death of KGB lieutenant colonel

There are still no suspects in the November 6, 2012 Molotov cocktail attack on the embassy of Lithuania in Minsk, Valyantsin Shayew, head of the Investigative Committee of Belarus, told reporters on Thursday.

According to him, investigators have video footage filmed by 16 security cameras placed outside the embassy compound, but Lithuania has not yet provided video footage filmed by cameras located inside the compound.

“Since our request for the embassy of Lithuania to provide video recordings from cameras located inside the compound did not bear fruit, we asked the appropriate justice institutions of Lithuania to render legal assistance to us, namely to allow us to question embassy officers and receive the video recordings they have,” Mr. Shayew said. “As of today, this request has not yet been met. We hope the Lithuanian side will grant our request.”

Two unknown persons threw two bottles containing a flammable substance into the Lithuanian embassy compound on the night of November 6. The bottles burst into a fire, but it was promptly put out by Lithuanian police officers. No one was hurt and no damage was caused because the bottles landed on pavement tiles.

Mr. Shayew also said that the probe into the death of KGB Lieutenant Colonel Alyaksandr Kazak had not yet been completed.

“A group of officers of the Investigative Committee and the Prosecutor General’s Office continue their inquiry into the incident,” Mr. Shayew said. “The probe has not yet been completed and I cannot announce any specific findings today.”

The presumed suicide of the head of an inter-district office of the KGB Directorate for Minsk and the Minsk Region, is believed to be one of the reasons for the November 9, 2012 dismissal of KGB head Vadzim Zaytsaw.

The 47-year-old Kazak was reportedly found dead on October 10 in a forest near his country house a few kilometers off the Minsk Beltway. //BelaPAN