After 9 years of hell, another blow: the absolute shame and failure of the legal system

This investigation was carried out by officers from the Criminal Intelligence Division of the Pravieniškės Correctional Center, who had to ensure that no convicted person serving his sentence in prison was subjected to any violence.

Unbelievable, but during the pre-trial investigation, officials didn’t even assess whether the prison guards performed their duties properly, but noted in the decision to close the investigation that ex-con John, who had spoken out about sexual abuse, was almost guilty of being silent for a long time. crimes. And the fact that he still complained many times to prison staff while serving his sentence is not even mentioned in the prosecutor’s decision. After all, it is no coincidence that the Pravieniškės officials, who carried out the pre-trial investigation, did not even know whether the employees who worked and continue to work here should not take responsibility for what happened at the prison during many years.

Furthermore, in the decision to terminate the pre-trial investigation, the prosecution stated that it had not even been established that John had been injured, although the same criminal record stated otherwise: in the medical record it was written in black and white that John had repeatedly complained. He was sexually abused, and the doctor even testified that there are so many prisoners like Jonas Pravieniškės that it is even difficult to remember them all.

However, this is not proof, as the potential rapists did not plead guilty.

For more than a year, Kristina Mišinienė, director of the Center for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings and the Exploitation of Human Rights (KOPŽI), which has been guarding Jonas and providing legal assistance, has made no secret that the decision of the prosecutor is “an absolute shame and a failure of the judicial system”.

“In our opinion, the termination of the investigation, which recorded in detail the nine-year rape of the convict without gathering sufficient evidence, is an absolute shame and a failure of the legal system,” said K. Mišinienė. – The lawyers, by signing a document of this type, put our country in the alley of shame. Isn’t it a sham to trust that “there was nothing” for potential rapists, but to dismiss the doctor’s repaired injuries, deteriorating mental condition, and the diagnosis of PTSD as insignificant? By the way, when the same doctor assures that he does not remember everything, because there were many prisoners with similar problems ”.

Loyalty to oneself is the supreme law

The head of KOPŽI is convinced that the result of the pre-trial investigation could have been expected differently if it had been carried out by a police institution not related to the prison system; After all, the famous Pravieniškės mafia became clear when the officers of the Lithuanian Criminal Police Office arrived at the correctional center and arrested not only Kaunas. the criminal gang gangs, but also a longtime officer in the Division of Criminal Intelligence who may have acted alongside the criminals. John remembers this officer well, even without help.

“The question is: is it possible to investigate such a terrible crime and its cover-up by officials of the same institution? K. Mišinienė asked. – In an institution where loyalty to oneself is the highest law? It sounds like intimidation that the prosecutor considered that the victim, being a “lower-ranking representative”, for some reason did not complain, but applied with a statement only after his release. “They raped me everywhere: in the pantry, under the stairs, in the showers, in the bathroom,” said the former prisoner, who currently lives with the very serious consequences of being abused. “But we don’t know how to investigate it,” Kaišiadorys prosecutors should admit.

KOPŽI intends to appeal the decision of prosecutor Ina Zabielienė to terminate the pre-trial investigation to the lead prosecutor and then, if necessary, to court.

He knew but did nothing

As early as 2019, a pre-trial investigation into sexual abuse by the police began. in February, when an ex-convict, John, at the urging of KOPŽI staff, decided not to keep silent. As the crimes were committed in a prison, the police forwarded the material to the Kaišiadorys Prosecutor’s Office, the same one that prosecutors have not even noticed for many years, what the hell is happening in the penitentiary center for prisoners outside criminal groups for first time. To the same Kaišiadorys prosecutors, who did not even object that the judges who were committing crimes in the area, but who were very exemplary in the documents, would be prematurely released by the judges.

During this pre-trial investigation, ex-convict Jonas shared what Pravieniškės officers had known for many years: as soon as he entered the prison, he was also required to pay for life; otherwise, they threatened to demote him to the lowest caste of the damned.

Since John had no money, the prisoners used not only physical violence but also sexual abuse against him. And this lasted more than 9 years, all the time when the convict was serving his sentence.

During questioning, John identified three people who raped him and threatened to maim him and leave him disabled if he only complained to someone. He also referred to officials who were aware of and who had repeatedly asked for help, and when they did not respond, he even wrote a letter to the Department of Prisons asking to be transferred to another place of detention, even entering the jail under the strictest conditions. from prison. However, the department management indicated that such a request could only be granted in “exceptional cases”, which is certainly not the case, and offered Jon again to contact the same Pravieniškės officials who could not guarantee his security and saw nothing.

I didn’t see it, but you know it didn’t hurt

During the pre-trial investigation, the Pravieniškės investigators questioned the convicts who were incarcerated with Jonas at the time, as well as the officers in charge of the inmate care, but none confirmed that they knew that Jonas, who had been identified as victim, had been sexually exploited. And some of them even insisted in their transcripts that no one had hurt John, although they also indicated that they knew nothing about WHAT had been abused.

It was also admitted that three men were raped and ridiculed by the convict. It is true that one of them recalled that John had once complained that he was being raped by another convict (one of the three suspects).

“I think he told me this in the hopes that I would help him and go with the officers together, but I didn’t trust him; after all, that prisoner was incarcerated in a platoon of” bachurs “and things like a man’s relationship with a man they are impossible there, “he said at the time. attracted man.

This suspect categorically denied that the prisoner had not only been raped, but had also driven wood screws into the exit hole, which he had done himself because he wanted to be transported from Pravieniškės to Lukiškės.

Another suspect also categorically shook his suspicions, at which point his sister, after learning of the charges against her brother, began to write messages to John and ask for his forgiveness, even offering him financial support, but asking for a reconciliation protocol. But he didn’t sign it anyway, his brother convinced him that he was innocent.

A third suspect was imprisoned in Pravieniškės Prison for sexual abuse against a minor. A man from a political party explained that he could not say anything because he had almost no contact with the victim in the prison.

Doctor: There were many such cases.

But that John’s abuse allegations were not out of the question, some convicts confirmed that there were rumors at the prison that the prisoner was being raped.

At that time, officers who had examined the former prisoner’s medical records found records confirming that events had indeed occurred in Pravieniškės. “Being abused by other prisoners, raped on Sunday, it doesn’t mean much because he fears the consequences,” Benjamin Saver, a doctor working in Pravieniškės at the time, said in a medical record.

Another record of this doctor also mentions terrible events: “Every day new members of the squad come with new torture: they urinate on the bedding, beat them, try to rape them. Fear of being on the squad because 1-2 hours. He drives at night to the bathroom where he is raped. They ridicule him constantly, he doesn’t even allow him to eat. “

The doctor also indicated that the victim’s condition was bad: he trembled when he spoke, was deeply depressed and was even afraid to explain what had happened.

During the interview, Saver revealed an even more dire reality: Although he admitted that he remembered John, he offered to read his complaints in the medical record. And this, as it turned out, is not even numbered – if you want, you can delete any page, and no one will notice.

“It’s hard for me to say because it’s been a long time, there are a lot of different cases and there are also a lot of convicts with similar problems,” Saver said.

He also added that the information that the convict had told him could not be disclosed without the convicted man’s written consent unless he received an official letter from the police authorities.

What have we become to justify rapists?

2016 John, who was released in November, was repeatedly examined by doctors, who found that life in the prison had affected him greatly and “due to the subjectively perceived threat to his health and life, he decided not to oppose these actions.”

“The sexual violence used has affected the health of the victim,” the experts said.

Due to the post-traumatic stress he experienced, John still needs medical help.

The Kaišiadorys prosecutor, who had terminated the pre-trial investigation, emphasized in her ruling that no witnesses had confirmed that the victim had been raped in prison, that the prison administration was not aware of it and that the victim herself he turned late to law enforcement to avoid evidence.

In addition, according to the prosecutor, the testimony of the victim, witnesses and evidence do not coincide and the doubts that have arisen should be dealt with in favor of the suspects.

“The sanctions and responsibilities provided for in the Penal Code can only be applied to the guilty if data is collected that shows that the crime was actually committed and that the crime was committed by the accused,” the prosecutor’s decision to close the sexual abuse investigation.

Prosecutor I. Zabielienė also highlighted that during the pre-trial investigation all procedural possibilities had been used to gather evidence.

“What rules, what ‘subculture’, can justify human sexual abuse? – K. Mišinienė asked not to agree with the decision of the prosecution. – It seems that the steam from our miserable prisons is pushing beyond thick walls, confusing our minds too, if we can react calmly to cases like John’s, to think that “there are his business, his rules.” We unequivocally believe that those who have tortured this man for many years should be prosecuted and that the Prison bosses should not tolerate such extreme forms of human humiliation. Does depriving your liberty mean depriving you of your dignity? Who decided that convicts could be tortured? Prison organizers are mandated by the state to punish perpetrators proportionally from society, and not from cultivating the traditions of coercion, addiction and humanization. “

According to K. Mišinienė, it is very difficult for crime victims to talk about violence, because they not only receive hostility, but also corporal punishment; this was also the case for Jonas, when he only spoke publicly about hell in Pravieniškės, and officials did not even want to investigate the case. to find the abusers himself. But even when the perpetrators were found and accused of violence, half a year later it became clear that they were not guilty because other people were in fact violent. And they couldn’t determine who they were.