VILNIUS, January 10 (RAPSI) – Lithuania's Prosecutor General's Office has declared 79 citizens of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine suspects in the criminal case connected with the events which happened in Vilnius on January 13, 1991, prosecutor Simonas Slapsinskas told journalists on Friday.

Lithuania declared independence from the Soviet Union on March 11, 1990. However, the Soviet Union called the move illegal and imposed an economic blockade on the country between April and late June 1990.

In January 1991, a series of unauthorized protests swept across Lithuania following which Soviet special forces entered the republic. On the night of January 13, a convoy of Soviet armored vehicles entered the center of Vilnius. The troops clashed with civilians at a local TV tower. The clash left 14 people dead and over 600 injured. One Soviet paratrooper was killed by friendly fire.

According to Slapsinskas, the suspects include those who occupied important positions in the Soviet Ministries of Defense, Internal Affairs, State Security Committee in 1991. These people involved in the January, 13 1991 events are suspected of cruelty, murder, injury of persons and prohibited acts of war against civilians. Prosecutors plan to issue European Arrest Warrants for them. Investigation is expected to be completed in March.