The witnesses include former chief of the National Defense Department Audrius Butkevičius, two active politicians during the independence restoration era, Egidijus Bičkauskas and Nikolajus Medvedevas, then criminal police officers Vidas Pukinis and Gediminas Adiklis, and an activist of Unity organization, Alexander Smotkin.
The first group of witnesses should give testimony on 13 October, with all interrogations finished by mid-December.
During Monday's hearing, the court rejected many pleas of Mikhailov's defense lawyers. Mikhailov also filed a request to be released until the ruling. The court will decide on the matter on Tuesday.
Seven police and customs officers were shot to death at the Medininkai checkpoint on the Lithuanian-Belarusian border during an attack in early hours of 31 July 1991. The only survivor, customs officer Tomas Šernas, suffered severe brain damage and became disabled.
Merely one individual has been convicted for the crime – Mikhailov, a Latvian citizen formerly known as Nikulin, was found guilty in spring 2011.
Lithuanian prosecutors have filed an appeal against the verdict, seeking that Mikhailov be sentenced for crimes against humanity. Appeals against the ruling was also submitted by the convict who categorically denies his complicity in the crime.
Lithuanian prosecutors charge three more OMON officers - Cheslav Mlynik, Andrey Laktionov, and Alexander Ryzhov – in the crime and has issued European Arrest Warrants for their arrest, but Moscow has refused to extradite them.
