Baltic Times. 24 January 2002. Soviet accomplice released from prison.
Juozas Jermalavicius, 61, Soviet accomplice, has been released from Lukiskes Prison, Vilnius, after serving out his time there. He played a key part in an unsuccessful pro-Kremlin coup in January 1991. Jermalavicius said he plans to leave for Moscow or Minsk. As he passed through the prison gates Jan. 15, Alexander Yuzhanin, the second secretary of the Russian Embassy in Vilnius, met him. Ten tense months after Lithuania announced the re-establishment of its independence on March 11, 1990, Soviet tanks attacked key buildings in the capital in an attempt to overthrow the government. Troops left 14 people dead and more than 700 wounded. During the attacks, loudspeakers mounted on the Soviet tanks broadcast a recorded speech by Jermalavicius stating that all power was being taken by the "national salvation committee." But the Kremlin stopped short of attacking a peaceful crowd of tens of thousands of civilians around the Lithuanian Parliament, and the coup failed. At the time, Jermalavicius was chief of the ideological section of the small, hardline, pro-Moscow Lithuanian Communist Party Central Committee. Today, the Communist Party is banned under Lithuanian law. Besides Yuzhanin, Jermalavicius was greeted by about 10 reporters, photographers, and his pro-Soviet friends. Valery Ivanov, former leader of the pro-Moscow organization Yedistvo, brought along a bottle of champagne. Ivanov has also served a sentence for pro-communist activities. "We will fight, and we will win," Jermalavicius said in Russian while knocking back the champagne at the prison gates. Asked by reporters about his future plans, he said, "We'll soon solve all issues of historical importance." When asked if he felt any guilt, he answered simply, "No. What guilt?" On his planned move to Moscow or Minsk, he said ironically, "Life is too good here. I'm going to the worst country in the world." With that, he jumped into the Russian Embassy's Ford Sierra and left the prison area. Jermalavicius received Russian citizenship a year ago, while in prison. Russian Embassy staff regularly visited him during his incarceration. Jermalavicius even got letters of support from Genady Zyuganov, head of the Russian Communist Party. "We are meeting an honored citizen of Russia," Yuzhanin was quoted as saying, according to several Lithuanian newspapers. Lithuanian secret service agents swooped on Jermalavicius and Mykolas Burokevicius, leader of Lithuania's pro-Moscow Communist Party, in Minsk in 1994, and managed to bring them to Vilnius by car. Both elderly communists had been living in the Belarusian capital since the collapse of the Soviet empire. Ivanov told the crowd at the prison gates he thought the secret swoop was illegal. "These people were caught in a foreign country. It was an act of state terrorism!" Jermalavicius was convicted for treason and spent eight years in prison. He served most of his sentence before being found guilty at a trial on August 26, 1999. Burokevicius, 74, and fellow communist activist Juozas Kuolelis, 69, continue their terms at Lukiskes. Two others, Jaroslav Prokopovic, 56, and Leon Bartosevic, 73, were released a year ago after their sentences were reduced due to poor health. One more activist, Stanislav Mickevich, 71, is in hiding in Moscow. He managed to cross the Lithuanian-Belarusian border during the court hearings. Burokevicius was sentenced to 12 years for treason and should be released on January 15, 2006. Kuolelis is due to be released on August 23, 2005. The Supreme Court, the final avenue for appeals in Lithuania, has rejected all appeals by pro-Soviet and former communist officials convicted of plotting and attempting to overthrow the nascent Lithuanian state in January 1991. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Back_in_the_CCCP
