Bali police detained four individuals involved in a daring attack on a Lithuanian citizen, 42-year-old Roman Smeilov. Among the suspects are two Russians, Yuri Vitchenko (30) and Ilya Shkutov (32), as well as two immigration officers: 24-year-old Ernest Ezmail from Jakarta and his peer Yopita Barinda Putri from Magelang.
According to the investigation, on July 10 at around 23:30, Roman was returning to his home in the Sakura I residential complex (Jimbaran). When he turned on the light, he saw a group of strangers. Two of them immediately attacked him, wrapped his neck with adhesive tape, and beat him so severely that they broke his nose. Later, the attackers realized they had mistaken him for someone else and stopped the beating.
A man and a woman in immigration service uniforms joined the attack. They forced Roman to unlock his phone, photographed his passport, and copied his personal data. The victim was interrogated about some $150,000 allegedly belonging to a person named Rustam; Roman had no knowledge of 'Rustam' or the money. Instead, he was threatened with deportation, imprisonment, and even murder, being ordered to keep silent.
Following the incident, Roman, who sustained serious injuries, was only able to contact the police on July 16. By that time, the Russians had managed to flee to Lombok Island. They were apprehended on July 21 in a restaurant in the Kuta-Mandalika area thanks to surveillance footage. Immigration officers were arrested in Bali; their specific positions are undisclosed, but their involvement in the attack has been confirmed.
All four have been charged under articles 170 ('group assault') and 351 ('intentional infliction of bodily harm') of the Indonesian Penal Code, combined with articles 55 and 56 for complicity. According to Bali Police Chief General Daniel Aditya, the investigation has reasons to believe that similar kidnappings and extortion with threats of deportation might have occurred before.
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