VILNIUS, October 14 (RIA Novosti) – A Vilnius court on Monday suspended TV rebroadcasting of Russia’s Channel 1 in Lithuania over what it said was biased coverage of a bloody attempt in January 1991 by Soviet forces to retake control of the Lithuanian capital.
The court ordered a three-month suspension of all programming by the Russian-language First Baltic Channel (FBC) following a request from the Lithuanian Radio and Television Commission.
A rebroadcast in Lithuania of Russia’s Channel 1 program “Man and Law” on October 4, 2013 caused outcry over its coverage of the Soviet attempt to regain control of Lithuania on January 13, 1991. The program included an interview with Mikhail Golovatov, then-commander of the Soviet Alpha Group military unit that stormed the TV tower in Vilnius, and other people who denied the attack, in which 14 people were killed.
On Tuesday, the commission called on the FBC to “apologize to the people of Lithuania over the spread of such information that might have offended their civic feelings,” The Lithuania Tribune news website reported.
Following the broadcast, cable TV provider Cgates stopped the rebroadcasting of the Latvian-registered FBC last Monday.
On Friday, Jolanta Butkevičienė, head of the Baltic Media Alliance (BMA), owner of FBC, resigned over the program, which she described as an act of provocation against Lithuania, and said it was incompatible with her convictions and values as a Lithuanian citizen, according to the Baltic News Service.
On Wednesday, Lithuania’s Defense Minister Juozas Olekas said the controversial report about the events of January 1991 was part of an information war.
“I think it is a hideous lie, which was used as part of the information war. It is an attempt to justify the sentiments that are currently escalated by the Russian side, while our haulers and our trade are being stopped,” Olekas told the national LRT television, The Lithuania Tribune reported.
On the night of January 12, 1991, a convoy of Soviet military vehicles moved into the center of the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. Clashes for control of the TV tower left 14 people dead – most of whom were shot, including an Alpha officer – and many more injured. The clashes were the culmination of protests in Lithuania that had begun earlier in the month, prompting Moscow to deploy special forces and airborne troops to hold key facilities in the republic.
Lithuania’s Supreme Soviet (parliament) had declared the republic’s independence on March 11, 1990, a move the Soviet authorities denounced as unconstitutional. Soviet special force commanders have never admitted opening fire on the crowd.
