An Estonian hitman has been sentenced to 10 years behind bars after pleading guilty to the murder of a Lithuanian MMA fighter and the attempted murder of one other individual. Imre Arakas was sentenced in a Lithuanian court on Monday after the 66-year old initially pleaded guilty last September.
Arakas, who is nicknamed “The Butcher”, claimed that he was offered €50,000 by an associate of his, Tomas Helinas, on behalf of two other man to kill 34-year old Remigijus Morkevičius. After failing at the first attempt as Morkevičius got away due to the gun jamming, he was later shot seven times with an assault rifle outside of his home address in Kaunas.
Morkevičius was a former MMA and kickboxing competitor who last fought in 2010 with many of his bouts coming under the Japanese K-1 or ZST banners. Prosecutor Zdzislav Tulisevski said that the man that hired Arakas only paid him 5,000 euros in total.
Arakas also claims that he was offered €25,000 to murder Gija Zabachidze, also by Helinas.He attempted to murder Zabachidze but he survived and appeared in court to testify as a witness, leading the court to sentence Arakas for both murder and attempted murder.
Arakas was also found to be in illegal possession of firearms, ammunition and explosives. Compensation was awarded to both victims with Arakas expressing sorrow and regret for his actions. His sentence is set to be backdated to the original date of when he was taken into custody and whilst he will likely serve his sentence in Lithuania under the prosecutors own comments, there could be an option for him to be transferred to Estonia if the defendant requests it.
