Lithuania passes diplomatic note to Belarus over Gen. Uskhopchyk

Lithuania's foreign ministry on January 13 passed a noted to Belarus after the Office of Prosecutor General refused to provide legal assistance to Lithuania over the January 13, 1991 case, a diplomatic source told the Baltic news agency BNS. Lithuania had requested Belarus to extradite Gen. Uladzimir Uskhopchyk and Stanislava Jonene who reside in Belarus. Belarus refused to assist Lithuania.

Delfi news agency reports that the note said that Belarus's foreign ministry should pay attention to the fact that the Office of the Prosecutor General of Belarus's reasoning was not in line with bilateral agreements.

However, Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaite said recently that Lithuania's Office of the Prosecutor General had no legal grounds to demand extradiction of Uskhopchyk and Jonene. Lithuania and Belarus have a bilateral agreement that do not allow them to extradite their citizens.