Court decision

ECHR - KGB killings of Lithuanian partisans not a genocide

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled the KGB murders of Lithuanian partisans was not an act of genocide. 

The ruling may become an important legal precedent in the evaluation of Soviet atrocities

The ECHR ruled that former KGB officer, Vytautas Vasiliauskas, had been sentenced in Lithuania in June 2011 "on legal provisions that had not been in force in 1953.” 

In charging Vasilauskas with genocide, the ECHR said Lithuania had violated the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects people against the retroactive application of law. 

The Kaunas District Court found Vasiliauskas guilty of genocide, sentencing him to four years in prison. However, he is not serving the sentence due to illnesses and old age.