This week 15min reported on a case mentioning the sum of 674 million euros, with 240 volumes of material collected for the court, and 13 defendants soon to hear the prosecution’s charges in the courtroom.
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In Vilnius, Sergejus Bėglikas, the mafia leader who shocked Europe, will be tried; according to the prosecution, he cleverly and secretly directed a powerful international criminal organization from a wheelchair.
The criminal network operating across Europe and led by Lithuanians was uncovered by officials while investigating the 2015 murder of Deimantas Bugavičius, and only now has the extradition of the suspect S. Bėglikas been carried out, called one of the most difficult in EU history.
Since the extradition, S. Bėglikas has been held in custody, but prosecutors still need to obtain court permission to continue this sanction.
“Officials promised to change the preventive measure. Both my parents are in Lithuania; I could live with them,” S. Bėglikas said during the court hearing on this matter, quoted by delfi.lt.
He repeated that he does not intend to hide, and his current health condition is such that he probably will not live to see the end of the trial in Pravieniškės.
Meanwhile, the prosecution firmly maintains a consistent position that the grounds to keep S. Bėglikas in custody have not disappeared.
S. Bėglikas has been held in custody in Lithuania since March 14 last year. The maximum 18-month detention period allowed by law will end in mid-September, BNS reminded. After it expires, the person would have to be released by imposing a milder preventive measure. However, S. Bėglikas will remain behind bars.
“One and a half years is the maximum detention period during the pre-trial investigation. Now the case has already been handed over for judicial review, the one and a half year term no longer applies, the person can be held in custody longer,” explained prosecutor M. Jovaiša.
The criminal case, consisting of nearly 240 volumes of documents, has been handed over to the Vilnius Regional Court for trial.
According to officials, the investigation was greatly delayed because the Spanish court refused for several years to hand over S. Bėglikas to Lithuanian or Polish law enforcement.
Arrested in Spain in 2019, S. Bėglikas was released on a 15,000 euro bail, although Poland had sent an extradition request to the Spanish court.
Cannot walk after the accident
The extradition process was unsuccessful due to documents presented to the court by the detainee, indicating his health problems and risks that the extradition process could allegedly cause to his health. After the accident, S. Bėglikas cannot walk and uses a wheelchair.
In 2020, Lithuanian law enforcement sent a new European arrest warrant to the Spanish National Supreme Court to ensure the person’s detention and transfer to Lithuania. However, this process was also unsuccessful for similar reasons that previously prevented his transfer to Poland.
But later, Spanish law enforcement, conducting criminal intelligence activities, determined that S. Bėglikas’s health condition is stable and allows him to engage in normal activities.
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This raised justified suspicions about previously submitted medical certificates, which claimed that he had very serious health problems, thus delaying the final decision on the suspect’s transfer to Lithuanian law enforcement.
Considering these circumstances, Spanish officials expedited court procedures regarding the person’s transfer to Lithuania.
According to the pre-trial investigation data, S. Bėglikas’s armed criminal organization operated internationally across several continents – Europe, South America, Africa.
“It is suspected that funds obtained through criminal means were further used to finance other criminal activities. Nearly 700 million euros may have been illegally imported into and exported from Lithuania and other countries,” said M. Jovaiša.
“Very high-capacity organized crime groups in Lithuania integrate and have integrated into international criminal networks,” said Saulius Briginas, deputy head of the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau (LKPB).
Hundreds of millions of euros
The criminal activities carried out by the criminal network formed by S. Bėglikas could have had criminal influence on more than one European country, so Europol and Eurojust were involved to assist in international law enforcement operations.
According to the pre-trial investigation data, the criminal activities were carried out from 2014 to 2020.
While in Spain, from 2014 to 2019, S. Bėglikas, together with Renaldas Kanius, included in the list of Europe’s most wanted persons, organized the acquisition of cocaine in South America, hashish in Africa (Morocco), drug smuggling into Spain, as well as their transportation from Spain to six countries, including Lithuania.
Could face life imprisonment
Drugs were hidden in ships, trucks, and other vehicles, sea containers, and specially arranged hiding places.
According to the case data, from 2014 to 2019, the accused illegally acquired, transported, and held no less than 2.4 tons of cocaine and no less than 6.9 tons of hashish.
During this period, the organization imported and exported nearly 674 million euros to and from Lithuania and other EU countries.
Organizing or leading criminal organizations is punishable by imprisonment from ten to twenty years or life imprisonment.
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