On Friday, the District Court of the city of Vilnius failed to start examining the new case of Antanas Kandrots, nicknamed Celophanas, who is in prison for financial crimes – due to the accusations of possible influence on the policeman who testified in the riots case.
This pre-trial investigation was launched in 2023. in November, when the accused A. Kandrotas approached the witnessing police officer after the riots in the district court of the city of Vilnius near the hearing of the Seimas case. According to the case, while preventing the officer from going down the stairs in the court building, he filmed him with a mobile phone and commented that he allegedly gave false testimony in court. Law enforcement assessed this as a possible attempt to influence the police officer to give a different testimony. A. Kandrotas did not calm down even after the case reached the court.
“The day will come when you yourself will be handcuffed for rioting,” said A. Kandrotas, who was brought from the Vilnius prison convoy, to the injured policeman Vaidas Maziliauskas as soon as he entered the courtroom.
Kęstutis Blažys, the lawyer appointed by the state, who represented him, asked the judge to take a short break so that A. Kandrotas could familiarize himself with the case and discuss the position of the accused with the defense counsel.
However, A. Kandrotas stated that 5-10 minutes would not be enough for him to familiarize himself with the case.
“The case is politicized, the investigator in the prison deceived me that I will be introduced to the case, I am not even familiar with the case, I do not know what the case is about. My request is to postpone the case, maybe I will have another one, lawyer Erikas Rugienius defends me in all cases,” he said.
A. Kandrots consoled himself that he found out about the court session on Friday only on Thursday evening.
“My request is not to do anything, to set another date for the hearing,” requested the accused.
At that time, prosecutor Edmund Bagdon asked the court to start hearing the case because, in his opinion, A. Kandrots seeks to delay the hearing of the case, he was aware of this case before, his lawyer knew about this case, and A. Kandrots can familiarize himself with the case materials during the break .
Judge Kristina Grinevičiūtė decided that the next hearing of the case will be held on May 14, Tuesday.
According to the Criminal Code, anyone who in any way sought to influence a witness, victim, expert, specialist or translator to give false testimony during a pre-trial investigation, in court, is punished by public service or a fine, or restriction of liberty, or arrest, or deprivation of liberty up to two years.
They called the officer a “provocateur” and filmed him after the court hearing
ELTA reminds that last November 2021 The Vilnius City District Court hearing the case of the riots near the Seimas questioned V. Maziliauskas, an officer of the Chief Police Commissariat of Vilnius County, as the victim.
V. Maziliauskas, who worked in the Dialog group, told the court that after the riots, his image was shared on social networks, and it was indicated that he was allegedly a provocateur. As a result of these actions, the officer wants to claim 3 thousand. EUR non-pecuniary damage.
V. Maziliauskas, the representative of “Dialogo group” said that in 2021 August 10 the other day he was invited to the Seimas with his colleagues, he said that he helped the officers to maintain public order. The officer said he was wearing civilian clothes, wearing an armband with the inscription “Dialogue Group”. V. Maziliauskas claimed that when communicating with people, in order to calm them down, he repeatedly showed his police officer’s certificate.
Police officer V. Maziliauskas was granted victim status in the riot case. He claimed that he was harmed by the use of his image without permission, for possible defamation. The witness noted that he noticed that people often filmed and photographed him during the rally near the Seimas.
“I suffered due to the publication of my photo with various posts, attachments, calls through social networks, slandering that I threw stones, that I provoked conflicts. It was very widely publicized and slandered,” V. Maziliauskas told the court.
According to him, after the publication of his photos on social networks and other channels, he received many questions from his minor children, relatives, and acquaintances.
“A narrative was created that I am a provocateur, a rioter. Information about my place of residence was requested on various channels,” explained V. Maziliauskas.
He said that he aims to claim 3 thousand in the case. EUR non-pecuniary damage. The officer noted that he felt stressed and suffered from insomnia due to his published photos.
V. Maziliauskas said that he received many messages on the Internet with accusations that he had caused, provoked riots, with insults. Also, as the man taught, he felt insecure when he saw that social networks offered a reward for revealing his whereabouts.
“I didn’t feel very safe for a certain period of time because of the place of residence of my family, minor children,” said the victim.
A. Kandrots filmed the victim after the court session, interviewed him, commenting that he gave false testimony and urged his followers to send him material where this policeman is allegedly untied.
“They demand 3 thousand euros from the lamp,” commented A. Kandrotas in the post.
Previously convicted A. Kandrotas is one of the accused in 2012. in the case of the riots near the Seimas.
The man had announced that he would take part in this year’s presidential elections, but the Supreme Election Commission had already twice refused to register him for the presidential election campaign, because the person could not open a bank account for the elections.
A. Kandrotas also announced that he had created the Mes Lietuva party with his comrades, but he did not submit the documents of the founding convention in time, so the Ministry of Justice decided that the party could not be registered.
