Former Soviet military serviceman Yury Mel has been released from a Lithuanian prison after serving nine years for involvement in the deadly 1991 Soviet crackdown on the Baltic state's pro-independence movement. The Russian Foreign Ministry said on March 10 that Mel immediately left Lithuania for Russia. Mel was arrested in 2014 while entering Lithuania from Russia. He was sentenced to prison in 2016. Thirteen people were killed during the Soviet troops' storming of Vilnius's TV tower in January 1991, the deadliest action by the Soviet Army in trying to crush secessionist movements in the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. To read the original story by Current Time, click here.
Russian Released From Lithuanian Prison After Serving Sentence Over Soviet Crackdown
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Yury Mel immediately left Lithuania for Russia.