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Twenty-three years after killing two people and attempting to kill 14 others, Romas Zamolskis has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the court.

"The committed crimes were brutal, extremely dangerous, and caused irreversible consequences <...>, therefore, the fairest punishment would be the maximum – life imprisonment," said Judge Valdas Meidus, the rapporteur of the panel that heard the case.

The Panevėžys Regional Court, which announced the verdict on Tuesday, sentenced Romas Zamolskis to prison terms ranging from 11 to 12 years for the attempted murder of three security guards and 11 police officers, and to life imprisonment for the murder of two people. The final aggregate sentence is life imprisonment.

Romas Zamolskis was acquitted of the robbery at a Kaunas nursery-kindergarten due to a lack of evidence proving his involvement in the crime.

The criminal proceedings against Romas Zamolskis for two other offenses – the robbery of the Lithuanian Agricultural Bank and the illegal possession of firearms – were terminated due to the expiration of the statute of limitations for the pronouncement of a guilty verdict.

The court acknowledged that at the time of committing all the crimes, Romas Zamolskis was and currently is capable of fully understanding the nature of his actions, their danger to society, and controlling them.

"At the time of the crimes, R. Zamolskis did not exhibit any temporary mental disorder; his actions were purposeful, pre-planned, and changed depending on the specific situation," the court noted.

The court awarded the victims in this case 77,000 euros in compensation for non-pecuniary damage.

The insurance company "Gjensidige" was awarded almost 11,000 euros for the damage to the security guards' vehicle during the incident, and the Lithuanian branch of Luminor Bank AS was awarded more than 20,000 euros in compensation for material damage.

The verdict of the Panevėžys Regional Court is not yet final and is subject to appeal to the Court of Appeal of Lithuania within 20 days.