by Anonymous
Lithuania used to be a country of knights. It used to be strong, independent, rich and proud. Also, it used to be Soviet Union province, exploited and terrorised. Now it is shaken by the biggest paedophile scandal and the most brutal cover up operation Europe has ever seen. An operation, which has already taken the lives of 9 people, and destroyed many more. But this is only the beginning. The scandal is so huge, and the assault on ordinary citizens so massive that European media refuse to report it for fear to inflict an even greater damage – on themselves and to the tiny country. For fear, what a thorough investigation might reveal.
This article is an attempt to explain how one woman – Neringa Venckiene – and a little girl, her niece became an enemy of the state of Lithuania. And to look at how the resources of that state, of all its institutions, are deployed towards one goal – to destroy her.
I do not know Neringa Venckiene, and I do not live in Lithuania. I have researched this case independently, not in association with any media or institution. I tried several times to put this case away, to continue going about my daily business and forget about it. But I found it impossible to put away. I found the injustice done to Deimante Kedyte, her aunt Neringa Venckiene and her family impossible to bear. My motive to spend time on writing this article is that I - after having examined the facts and studied the case for some months and through various sources – as a human being and as a European find this injustice impossible to bear:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N4yURmXyU4. I do not speak Lithuanian, but the images can make anyone cry with anger: How can this happen in Europe today? Is this how we want a European country to treat European citizens, especially vulnerable children and old people?
How can Lithuania get away with this?
How can ordinary people become a target of such an unprecedented and massive government attack? Attack by police and Special Forces? How can an ordinary woman, a judge, a mother, and a good citizen, respected by the community, her neighbours, a woman who has done nothing wrong or illegal, but to protect the a child that clings on her neck and asks for protection, the child of her murdered brother – how can this woman do something wrong? This child has endured constant attacks from state institutions, including her being kidnapped on the way from kindergarten and drugging her at a mental institution for a week. Why has Neringa Venckiene, and not the people who caused this girl so much trauma, why has she become a target of an unprecedented campaign of terror and hatred through media, courts, police and politicians? A campaign so overwhelming that it is grotesque, a campaign, which is becoming the biggest scandal in Europe today?
A summary of events: a little girl by the name of Deimante Kedyte was prostituted by her own mother to paedophiles between the age of 3 to 5, while she was in her custody. The mother Laima Stankunaite made thousands of Euro per month selling her own daughter to high ranking Lithuanian politicians, judges, and businessmen. She lived on the money her daughter generated and until present this has been her main source of income, after the daughter was forcefully restored to her on the 17th of May 2012. Police and Special Forces stormed the house where the girl lived safely with the family of her aunt Neringa Venckiene, brutalised her and her aunt, then the mother Laima Stankunaite and her lawyer took the girl away by force while she screamed and fought for her life (evidence see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N4yURmXyU4
This story began four years ago when the little girl told her father, Drasuis Kedys, about the abuse, and he fought to protect her. He tried to initiate an investigation of the paedophiles his daughter said abused her in her mother’s flat, at hotels and motels, and forced her to perform sexual intercourse “everywhere” since the age of 3. But even though the evidence was overwhelming, and while the girl was subjected to several psychological and medical tests, which all confirmed she was telling the truth, none of the suspects she mentioned were ever investigated. On the contrary, her father and three witnesses were murdered, and the girl passed into her aunt’s custody. In January 2012, the court decided to give the girl back to her mother, who has no stable place of residence, no education, and no job. She lives under the constant protection of two masked bodyguards and the source of her income has been unclear for years. It is unclear too how she can afford to pay the most expensive lawyer in the country costing Euro 700 per hour.
During the custody battle, the girl wrote to the court and stated that she does not want to live with the mother, that she wants to stay with her aunt Neringa ‘forever’, because “she is good to me”. Yet the court completely dismissed the girl’s will and after one unsuccessful attempt to enforce the police order and remove her from her home on the 23. March 2012 (what happened, see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptGVTGTbCdA) police and Special Forces stormed her home and violently tore her away from her guardian’s arms on May 17th.
Her mother, Laima Stankunaite, wearing a bullet proof vest, and the mother’s lawyer carried, stone-faced, the screaming and terrified girl away into the waiting van (see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zE_a3fvfVI), while Special Forces and police beat and carried away protesters. 39 people who protested the girl’s kidnapping by force and her horrifying and inhumane treatment, were detained. People, who went to protest in front of the Presidential palace against the brutal treatment of the girl, will soon face prosecution too. At the moment, the parliament is working on removing the aunt Neringa Venckiene’s immunity as a judge, so that she too can be prosecuted and destroyed - professionally, personally, and economically.
She has become an enemy of the state, attacked with its full force. But why? Who is afraid of her? If you watch the video again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N4yURmXyU4, the agression comes from one side only: police, bailiff, mother and her lawyer trying to tear the girl away from the neck of her aunt. Neringa Venckiene tries to defend the girl, who screams that it does not want to go to “live with Laima”, and asks them to ‘leave my home’.
How could this custody case escalate to a state scandal and make an ordinary woman an enemy of the state?
There are many reasons why high officials want her removed, but the main are two: she is pushing for investigation of the pedophile case, in which case the evidence has been systematically destroyed (murders of witnesses, destruction of material, massive media campaign for deception and disinformation of the public, and threats of legal destruction of anyone who dares speak about it publicly) and second, the political dangers that this new movement against corruption presents for those who hold power in Lithuania today, for the threat it poses to the government, to the governing parties, their people in the state institutions (courts, police etc), and their business friends.
In this article I want to focus on the second reason: the political significance of Neringa Venckiene and her struggle for justice.
Whether she has political ambitions or no, is irrelevant, the important here is that Lithuanian people have risen to protest against corruption that threatens to consume the most important – their children. There is a strong sentiment in society that enough is enough, that now corruption must be stopped. This makes it possible for a new political party to swipe into power. This momentum must be used and any attempts by the government to stop and block that political movement must be made public. It will be a monumental battle, to judge by the government's reactions. Publicity and access to the international community is the only way to succeed in this battle. Contacts with European parties and appearances in international media can provide insurance against government harassment.
The only way for this movement to succeed is to become internationally known through media and international political contacts. As long as this movement is closed and local, known only within Lithuania, it will be easy to suppress and its members harassed and removed. The language barrier and the closeness of the political system will make it easy for those who hold the power now to suppress it, and they will use every means to do so.
So why is Neringa Venckiene a state enemy? Why is this brave woman terrorized and attacked by the media, courts and politicians?
Because she sets an example of civil courage and bravery that can spark Lithuanians to seek to change the political system by removing those in power. People can be inspired to believe that they can resist the state – and win. From the president down to the last bureaucrat, the current power elite is afraid of that. The President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite and the government are afraid that Lithuanians may begin to believe they can win, they can be free. And this is why Neringa Venckiene, just like the little girl Deimante Kedyte – has to be destroyed with force so great as to scare everyone in Lithuania, everyone who even thinks to oppose the government and the corrupted judiciary.
Lithuania is still in many levels totalitarian state. The media is controlled, and so are the courts, so are the police, special forces, and politicians have become ‘partners in crime’: abusing together and covering each other. And those, who try to oppose are immediately destroyed, often by using a favorite method from the KGB – punitive psychiatry.
And if someone, hypothetically, a very powerful individual or a group of individuals can draw into the circle of pedophiles, high-ranking officials in each of the state institutions, politicians in the government, business and the media, he practically owns the state.
Evidence is systematically destroyed, and witnesses who try to speak up – removed. But soon, the scandal will be too big for Lithuania to contain, soon the eyes of the world will turn to it, and then there will be nowhere to hide.
To use the momentum, the leaders of the new political movement in Lithuania must open it to the world, must use as much publicity as possible, because this is their insurance and defence against the perpetrators who rule the Lithuanian people today.
The raped girl has become a symbol of Lithuania. We can see her vulnerable body torn away from the place she wants to be, her future taken away from her as she is carried screaming out into the waiting van. We can see her mother and her lawyer holding opposite legs, her head is unsupported and so she has to clutch her ‘mother’ as she screams in horror. We can see that her mother and her lawyer have practiced the technique for carrying her away by force. And we can also see the police arresting vulnerable people, beating them and carrying them away, barefoot.
But if they fight, they will win, because they are dealing with a desperate enemy who knows their time has come, who knows that this battle will decide the future of Lithuania. The government of Lithuania is desperate – this is why they deploy excessive force. They know that if this movement gathers force, they will loose the coming elections. And they made a huge mistake, and will make more mistakes trying to openly brutalise protesters.
The eyes of the world are on them, and it is just a matter of time before the perpetrators are exposed in all main media around the world.
Will Lithuanians fight, will they get that girl back? If they cannot win this battle, when there is nothing left to loose, then there is no hope left for the country, no hope at all.
So, who is so afraid of Neringa Venckiene?
Aung San Suu Kyi lived a comfortable life in the West (Oxford and then New York working for the UN), but when she returned to Burma in 1988 to care for her ailing mother, she realized that her home country Burma had turned into an oppressive dictatorship which crushed the lives of ordinary people. She realised it was impossible to live in such conditions and led the movement for democracy. As a result, the new junta which came to power after the ruling dictator General Ne Win stepped down, put her under house arrest for 15 of the past 21 years. In those years she saw her husband only 5 times, and few times her sons. But democracy cannot be oppressed. Aung San Suu Kyi prevailed and now she is in parliament leading the opposition and pressing for freedom and justice. This gentle and honest woman has become a symbol for those who will never give up the fight.
