After the public outrage of Jurgis Didžiulis, who once again reminded Lavrinovičius of his past sins, the famous brothers’ response: I don’t know why they humiliate us so much.

“Erica and I take sex crimes and violence against women very seriously. For this, we decided to leave Telia Lietuva.

Promotional faces either resonate or don’t resonate in value. With the help of your image, you can attract new customers, but you can also lose them. They also send additional messages to the public, in this case, that Telia does not take sexual violence seriously. For us, violence against women is a priority issue and we simply cannot pay money to a company that promotes youth services to people convicted of gang rape.

We believe that with our wallets we not only buy goods, but also send signals to companies and the public about our own values. That’s what we have flour, what we care about and what we support and what we don’t. For our family, buying services with your face not only generates discomfort as customers, but also generates distrust in a company that considers itself a leader with an impeccable reputation in the field of social responsibility and declares care as one of its values.

In our eyes, this advertising option spreads the exact opposite: the message “I don’t care about gang rape”, that’s why we left Telia. We also cease to believe that this sends very little signal to our youth about sexual violence and its consequences.

Of course, many will say that the brothers served their punishment, which happened a long time ago, it has been a long time and they have done a lot for the good of Lithuania on the basketball court. Everyone has the right to have their own opinion, but almost no commentator, most of whom are men who have never been raped, have the right to decide what is “enough” time to forgive and forget about such a crime.

A business is unlikely to be able to do this by publicly cracking down on advertising and thereby associating its brand and services with its criminal record and reminding all victims of such crimes of painful experiences.

We choose what to remember based on what is important to us. We take basketball seriously, which is why we remember every victory and defeat of the national team since the Barcelona Olympics. We take independence seriously: we worship the leaders of the movement and the signatories of the Act of Independence. We do not take violence against women and rape so seriously.

The fact that Telia has chosen to promote Hedgehog to convicted rapists does not show that we have forgotten the past, but that in 2020 gang rape is still not something that will provoke a serious reaction of rejection in our society.

One in four women in Europe has suffered sexual or physical violence. In Lithuania, almost a third according to 2015 data. Many do not report anyone out of fear, shame or fear that institutions and society will not take it seriously.

Reporting an attack can often also be a traumatic experience because of the reactions it receives. And they are such that the woman accuses herself, “it is not necessary to go to discos or dress provocatively” as if it were an automatic justification for violence, the punishments are also often ridiculous. The victim usually pays twice for the attack if they still decide to seek help.

The Lavrinovich brothers’ ads constantly remind us how “seriously” we continue to look at sexual violence against women in Lithuania. The moral of their story is that by playing basketball well they can redeem their guilt and reach heights. But it also sends a signal, and in this particular case to young people, The Hedgehog’s main audience, that the perpetrators have a full life after the rape. And send a signal to the girls that everything will end well for your attacker. Instead, I would like to send an ‘all is well’ signal to the rape victims who need it most.

To think about: how many success stories do we have from the victims themselves: girls and women who have experienced violence, survived, reached the peak of their careers and raised families. How much? There are many women and almost no stories. Because in Lithuania it is still a taboo subject. But anyone who has experienced sexual violence, or knows a friend, mother, sister, cousin, co-worker who has experienced such an event, knows how difficult it is to recover after such a traumatic experience.

And no one would dare to tell them that “they suffer enough, enough time has passed.” Victims who have survived violence should be considered heroines, not attackers.

Yes, our family loves Lithuanian basketball and we believe in integrating prisoners into society and giving a second chance, we also promote forgiveness and understanding, when a person really makes an effort to atone for his guilt and sincerely tries to repair the damage caused.

However, as consumers, we cannot support a commercial campaign that conflicts with our value system in which we live and that we seek to instill in our children. We cannot pay money to a company that ‘normalizes’ violence against women through its advertising. We left Telia for that, – announced J. Didžiulis on Facebook.

Delfi commented to the representatives of Telia.

“When hiring famous people to be the face of the brand, we are always guided by Telia’s values ​​and consider the potential impact on the company’s reputation. Hedgehog’s new campaign is no exception, in which we provide 3 times more data for the same amount by the end of the year For this campaign, we selected the twin brothers Lavrinovičius, who have repeatedly participated in various commercial announcements, public projects and charities.

Over the decades of basketball players’ careers, they have earned not only the title of sports ambassadors for the country, but also the trust and sympathy of much of the public. These are the merits of them and the arguments why we chose to represent the Lavrinovich brothers and the Hedgehog.

Telia unconditionally adheres to the rule of law and respects the privacy of these individuals and their families, so we cannot comment on the distant past of these individuals, morally or legally. In any case, we understand the sensitivity of the public issue and we regret that our publicity may have seemed unacceptable to part of the public, ”Audrius Stasiulaitis, Telia’s communications representative, told Delfi.

Convicted of gang rape

Delfi recalls that in 1999, the Lavrinovičius brothers and their cousin Andrejs Borodkins were sentenced to prison by the Šalčininkai District Court for the rape of 17-year-old Natalija Tomaševič on October 18, 1998 in a forest in the Šalčininkai district. D. and K. Lavrinovich were sentenced to 5 years in prison and A. Borodkin to 6 years.

After the case had already been investigated and had to be tried in court, the victim unexpectedly married D. Lavrinovičius and changed the testimony given during the preliminary interrogation, claiming that he made love to the children voluntarily. The wedding of N.Tomaševič and D. Lavrinovičius was not recognized as a mitigating circumstance in this criminal case.

In July 2000, the Šalčininkai District Court also convicted Tomaševič, accused of giving false testimony. The Šalčininkai court recognized that N. Tomaševič had lied and sentenced him to half a year in prison. However, after the application of the Amnesty Law, the accused was acquitted of the actual custodial sentence. K. Lavrinovičius and his cousin were arrested shortly after the commission of the crime and, once the sentence came into force, they were transferred to the Pravieniškės colony.

Because the Lavrinovich brothers served their felony sentences, their sentences were formally lifted five years after serving.

History repeats itself

D. Lavrinovičius did not go into hiding for the first time when he noticed that the Didžiuliai family remembered this topic.

“We live in a free Lithuania. They have the right to comment what they want. I look at my life. I don’t know what they want to prove. If I read what everyone writes, I would go crazy. For me, my family, my children, my brother, parents are the most important thing. I look at my life and try to be a decent citizen and live for the sake of my family. And commenting can be a lot and boring. Here is everyone’s choice. Many years have passed. This is not the the first time this issue has been raised, “Darjušas told Delfi.

Well, Christopher, when asked how he reacts to the fact that this story is still remembered, assured that he was only concerned about the attitude of his loved ones.

“It just came to my knowledge then. I do everything for the family. I don’t know for what purpose they are humiliating us so much. We also have families. We try to be decent and continue living. But it is how it is. Here is your business and your right to choose how He (J. Didžiulis, ed.) was once out of Bitė because of our publicity, and now he’s on the run from Telia.

We know who the people are, we know where we went wrong. We are trying to recover. We know that we are not ideal and we do not have to please everyone. There are people who hate us, there are those who are jealous, there are those who love us. And the most important thing for us is that my brother and I know who we are. And everyone has made mistakes; it is important to learn from them and correct them, “said Krzysztof.

Delfi 2013 shared the apology of E. Jennings and J. Didžiulis to the Lavrinovičius brothers. J. Didžiulis apologized for expressing outrage in his account of the Bitė telecommunications company advertisement, in which these famous brothers chewed sausages and surfed the Internet.

Puft! And we left Bite. Someone in Bit’s advertising department forgot that advertising faces represent the company’s values, and these bachurs are famous not only for their accomplishments on the basketball court. Our country is seething about gay rights and tolerance of sexual minorities. Politicians pretend to be moral warriors, but no one realizes that this campaign sends an indirect message that criminal sexual perversions are excusable. Does the whole of Lithuania suffer from amnesia, valuable schizophrenia, or am I stuttering? “Said the singer this time.

He was seconded by E. Jennings, who wrote that the problem of sexual violence would be solved immediately if the perpetrators were castrated.

“When people commit serious crimes, they should be severely punished. Incarcerating behind bars playing basketball and still enjoying delicious food is abnormal. This is called special mode. However, Bitė chooses who represents them. I will not give them the hard-earned money and I will spend it elsewhere, “wrote Jennings-Didžiulis in her comments. – I noticed something interesting today about how Lithuanians become tolerant when it comes to basketball. Everything seems to be forgiven and forgotten while playing the game. But when we start talking about gay rights, all tolerance disappears. Ironically. “

The couple later apologized for these words. “We would like to sincerely apologize to the Lavrinovich families. As a family, we are acutely aware of how his family and loved ones feel due to the additional and unwanted attention from the media. We wanted to draw attention to the value dilemma of “Bitė”, but at the same time the attention fell on the families of the brothers. “