Neringa Venckiene

Kaunas District Court Judge

 

TO THE HONORABLE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA

Her Excellency Dalia Grybauskaite

S. Daukantas Sq. 3, LT-01122, Vilnius

 

Request to terminate from the judge’s position at Kaunas District Court

 

27 June 2012

 

At the moment Lithuania is going through a deep crisis, which is not only economical, but moral crisis too. The pedophilia case that shocked our society has uncovered the incomprehensibly deep problems in our political and judicial systems.  Many of us knew that such problems existed, but that they are so deep, we could not even imagine.

 

It’s quite obvious, that the essential reasons for the destruction of our life in this country lie in the incapable judicial system which is not there to protect a human being. This is a fact that the majority of Lithuanians see and that is also noted by foreign officials. During more than 20 years of country’s independence from the Soviet Union, the judicial system, instead of going in the direction of Western standards, has chosen the most dangerous way – corrupted deals, unclear relationships that very often enable to manipulate the existing laws, and on many occasions – ties with the criminal world, which in turn is fundamentally compromising  the principal constitutional and judicial rights to serve for the truth, establish justice, defend human rights and freedoms. The current situation is extremely dangerous for Lithuania, because it looks like the justice is of little importance and is not sought as fundamental category, but the law itself is brought above all, above the human being and the justice, and then that set of laws becomes an object of manipulations which leads to incomprehensible decisions that serves various clans. The Lithuanian courts and prosecutors’ office always stress their impeccable rightfulness though without any proofs to support that, and the society clearly sees how the processes are endlessly delayed, the cases are not investigated and even the court decisions are very questionable. The courts and the prosecutors’ office have become completely closed structures that are clearly not acting according the Constitution and laws, but they have created their own system for them. These institutions have completely closed themselves from constructive criticism and are consciously preventing the bettering of their performance, while protecting and hiding from public huge mistakes and often even the criminal actions of their employees. All this is a compromising the authority of the Lithuanian judicial system in the eyes of Lithuania and the world severely, which in turn causes distrust in this system and even in the country itself, because a healthy judicial system is the guarantee of a normal and harmonious life.

 

When we do not have honest and clean judicial system, we do not have a well-functioning country. Then the kids that were raped by pedophiles are returned to the rapists, the murderers are spending only two years in jail for stabbing someone, and the “politicians” that have sold out or stolen the wealth of our country are sitting in their chairs and smiling, because they are sure that tomorrow will be as rich and as luxurious as today. This present situation is a horrible deformation of our life, an absolute mockery from all the past sacrifices that have been required during our quest for freedom – and it is completely unacceptable not only for me, but also for a big part of Lithuanians.

 

I, Neringa Venckiene, have worked as a judge for more than ten years. During that period I have worked on a couple of thousands of cases, and, following the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, I have taken very important judicial decisions that concern the people of Lithuania. Because I have made an oath to be faithful to our country - I have carried out my duties honorably and I sought justice according the Constitution and the laws, defended human rights, freedoms and legitimate interests, I was always objective, honest, humane, and I have never taken bribes and did not participate in any unclear deals. I want to stress this firmly again, because as a judge and as a human I have my clear understanding of justice – I stick strictly to the notions of the Lithuanian Constitution, I serve for the justice, truth, people and our homeland. However, in my attempt to save my brother’s daughter who was raped by pedophiles, I have been constantly pushed into a corner by the very same system I work for and instead of help I received a massive oppression from the forces that should pay its duty to the truth, justice, our people and Lithuania. My colleagues in the judicial system, who also have given oath to serve the country, did not concern themselves with uncovering the most disgusting pedophilia case in Lithuania, which is what their duty is, not even mentioning the personal humane interest to save the suffering kids and help them, but they concentrated on creating various difficulties and barriers for me – I have been constantly checked at work, some of my colleagues have refused to work on me in some cases, the pedophilia case related court hearings have been spread out all over the country. Who will count how many hours I have spent driving from one city to another: one day going to Vilnius, the next one to Panevezys, Siauliai or Klaipeda? I am sure that it has been done intentionally, so that I could be destroyed physically and emotionally. And let’s not forget all supposedly legal, but completely insane decisions that are destroying the future of my brother’s little girl that have been taken consciously trying to divert attention from how problematic this story is and attempting to cover up its brutality and sharpness, while in the meantime trying to destroy me, to push me into despair and give up seeking justice in the name of this little girl. Is it not the fault of this system that my life in these last four years turned into God knows what? If not the early system’s errors, maybe even my brother would be alive today, instead of lying under ground after he “chocked on the contents of his stomach”. The conscious attempt to cover up and not to investigate, the attempt to push it to the past, make the society forget and even manipulate the information and present it as the “truth”, while leaving the real murderers freely walking amongst us – is an unforgivable crime. And it’s the crime of no other than the Lithuanian judicial system that shows an open disregard for the truth, and gives instead an open or hidden, but nevertheless – lie. I wonder – what for?

 

Most scary is the fact, that this conscious deformation of the truth is becoming acceptable on a big scale. It is obvious to the normal people, but until now it is “not obvious” to the highest Lithuanian judicial institutions – The Judges’ Council, The Honor of Judges’ Court, Lithuanian Highest Court. Neither the Prosecutor General, nor the Head of the Highesrt Court G. Kryzevicius, nor the Minister of Justice could see and hear the little child who shouted seven times “I will not go”, on whose head a blanket was thrown, who was taken away by force while screaming at the top of her lungs and was placed in a minivan full of masked men where she saw “eight hands”. They cannot see the force used against a judge, as well as the brutal force used against the peaceful people on a private property, moreover the torn apart symbol of our country – the Lithuanian flag. All they can see and hear are the “not nice” words of Venckiene, and when based only on those few words they could not remove me from judges, they started creating the supposed criminal acts I have done. Without a doubt, yet again, all this is compromising the system.

 

I have also received complaints from the parliament members that I was carrying out my own justice. However, all I can say is that in my life’s journey I always had the belief that what is according to the law cannot not be higher than justice, and that all judicial decisions should have a clear motivation and with their objectiveness should be completely understandable to people. This is how it is done in a civilized world, where any mistake is quickly corrected and it is apologized to the society for any doubts it might have caused. In a civilized world while deciding on the fate of somebody - a human being is held above everything else, and even more attention is given when it is a child. And there is no such law and no norm that can justify the use of force against the child; no law permits covering the child’s head with a blanket that most likely was sprayed with psychotropic drugs or taking a screaming child with twisted legs after 240 policemen kicked out of their away all the peaceful people. In all civilized world the child’s wish and decision are not ignored, which is clearly laid out in the Child Rights Protection Convention. Therefore, by not using any force against the girl, I did not do any crime, quite on the contrary – both as a human and as a judge I have protected the child’s right to a happy life. I was carrying the real justice that was not granted by the Lithuanian courts even though it was their duty. And I know very well, that those honest people in judicial system and in Lithuania in general understand me and my actions.

 

I have suffered immensely in this pursuit of the real justice. While being the judge of Kaunas District Court and having my immunity, I was forced to go through hell that has been consciously created by the Lithuanian judicial institutions – I was humiliated as a human and all my freedoms have been taken away when a brutal force was used against my brother’s daughter, who is also a victim in the pedophilia case, when she was torn away from my neck while throwing a red blanket on her head. Moreover, I also suffered abuse myself when the policemen were breaking my arms in their attempt to cause me unbearable pain and a traumatic shock.

 

I am convinced that in a normal, civilized world nobody behaves with judges like this. Nobody breaks their arms, nobody causes them a traumatic shock, nobody breaks their house windows, nobody cuts their doors and kicks around the things. They are not slandered in the most humiliating ways in media, they are not called “the political and judicial system’s fester” by the highest rank officials that are directly responsible for the justice, for the respect and security of a human in the country. This kind of judicial system that seeks not justice, but seeks destruction of the one who asks for it – this kind of system is dead by laws and moral values and even criminal, and we need to acknowledge it openly. I do not want to be part of this kind of system anymore. This is a system that consciously avoids Western standards where judges are respected and protected by their immunity for real. The heads of the Lithuanian justice system are consciously avoiding the system based on Western practices where a judge would be a guarantee not of a twisted lawfulness, but of justice and where he would be respected and trusted by the society for his honest work

 

I cannot be part of the system where the justice is declared in words, but not sought after and is not carried out; where corruption is one of the most important aspects and the top of the hierarchy is reached only with the help of unclean relationships and secret agreements, but not by one’s merit.

 

I cannot be a part of the system that does not pay its duty to the truth, the people and the home country.

 

The Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania has removed my immunity yesterday (26 June 2012). I, being a suspect, cannot be a judge anymore. Considering the circumstances and that I am honest in my work, I cannot continue working on cases.

By the Republic of Lithuania Courts’ Law No. 90 (Part 1, Point 1), I ask you to immediately terminate me from the employment of a judge at Kaunas District Court starting from the 2nd July 2012.

 

Respectfully,

 

 

Neringa Venckiene