Gays attacked at home in Vilnius don’t feel safe: you never know what’s in store for them

The encounter with unknown boys opened the eyes of Tomás and his heart friend Arnas Raulinaitis: the boys crowded together the same night and moved elsewhere. But they still cannot forget the attack, despite the fact that more than 2 years have passed since the bloody events: a long-standing criminal case that lay in the drawers of the police and prosecutors was finally found in court, but its end it is not visible. .

On Tuesday, the Vilnius City District Court continued its investigation into a criminal case in which Albert Kratkovski, a 22-year-old resident of Vilnius, is accused of violating public order and inciting hatred on the basis of sexual orientation. In this case, during the preliminary investigation, the officers had recognized both children as victims, but when drafting the indictment, the prosecutors decided that only T. Kirša was the victim of the attack, so only he was granted the status of accused. victim.

According to the data of the case, back in 2019. June 30 at night, around 2.30 p.m. In Vilnius, on Subačiaus Street, A. Kratkovskis attacked T. Kiršas and A. Raulinaitis on the stairs of an apartment building; he described the men as “pedophiles”, explained that they should be beaten and then beat T. Kiršas. in the face at least three times. His friend A. Raulinaitis was quick to ask for help immediately; he called the police officers and ambulance doctors.

Although the agents arrived at the scene a few minutes later, the victims received the cynical words of one of the agents: “And what surprises you? You don’t know where you live?”

However, this did not end there: when the doctors took T. Kiršas to the hospital, the guy who arrived at the police station the next day found out that the officers were not even investigating his attack. It was only after he shared the situation with his friend on Facebook that officers took office. It is true that, according to the children, law enforcement officers did not see hatred for inciting sexual orientation; for these accusations to be made against A. Kratkovskis, who attacked them, the children and their defenders had to go almost to the cross.

The boys, who made no secret of their homosexual orientation and got married in Portugal a few years ago, said they were targeted just for being gay.

“My friend and I went out to the bar that night when we saw two guys at home who immediately clung to us,” he said, “you are” fagots, “said A. Raulinaitis. – Then a boy asked for a cigarette, I gave it to him and we left. The bar was full of style all the time … And we were not wrong – when we got home we ran into those two guys again, they got in our way and then they attacked us on the staircase – Tom me He hit my face several times, then I ran a few floors up and asked for help. “

According to the boys, the young people who attacked them behaved very aggressively, shouting that “pederastus need sudubasinti, “beaten”, and many blasphemies were uttered against them.

“We lived together in that apartment for several months, maybe they saw it and got stuck in it,” said A. Raulinaitis.

The guy did not hide that he had always felt safe in Vilnius until then, but this attack made his eyes widen: “We collected things the same night, we were afraid to stay in this house, so we temporarily stayed with friends and we we moved “. of that apartment. “

“If a neighbor attacks you, it doesn’t mean they won’t do it during the day, that’s why we had to move out of those houses.”

Gays believe they were targeted only for unconventional sexual orientation. A. Kratkovskis, who was prosecuted at the time, explained both during the investigation and during the trial that he did not know that the children were “different” and that they were attacked only because he was drunk. He also claimed that neighbors who had returned home had asked for cigarettes, but that he had not received them and that one of the boys had given him an uncensored word, so he came over and demanded an apology. And when he didn’t apologize and got …

T. Kirša, who was recognized as a victim, said that although A. Kratkovskis partly admits his guilt, he has not yet dared to sincerely apologize.

“The saddest thing is that even after this attack, you feel guilty, because now they ask us in court if the word ‘pedophile’ used in the lexicon is not said in a general sense,” Kirša said. “I completely disagree with that, because if we take it as a general word, then what kind of tolerance can we talk about.”

Due to the excessive length of the process, T. Kirša even doubted that he would receive justice. All conversation with T. Kirša and A. Raulinaitis – on video.