BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

24/08/2006

Lithuanian Security Officer Fell Out of Hotel Window in Belarus

Vytautas Pociunas, a diplomat from Lithuanian Consulate General in Grodno, fell out of the ninth floor of Intourist Hotel in Brest, Belarus. Once the staff employee of Lithuanian State Security Department, Pociunas was found near the hotel Wednesday morning. The reasons of this accident haven't been given officially, and Brest prosecutors won't initiate the criminal case.

The enforcement bodies of Belarus that are probing into the death of Vytautas Pociunas stick to the accident story. "We will clear up the case within ten days," a representative of Belarus' prosecutors claimed yesterday.

But in Vilnius, they don't believe Pociunas, 49, had fallen victim to fatal contingency. The alternative to accident is the murder, the political murder of course, said Vytautas Landsbergis, the guru of Lithuanian conservatives. Landsbergis called for the independent investigation to be carried out by Lithuania.

Before becoming an official diplomat, Pociunas was in charge of the 3rd division at the State Security Department of Lithuania. After a while, the department's authorities commissioned him to pursue the diplomatic career and Pociunas proceeded to business under the cover of counselor's office at Lithuanian Consulate General in Grodno.

It is the second tragedy that has recently happened with foreign diplomats assigned to Grodno. Polish Deputy Consul Ryszard Badon-Lehr was found unconscious in his Grodno apartments on March 22. Badon-Lehr died April 6 without coming to his senses.

Source:

http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?idr=530&id=699907