Prosecutors said: after the story that shook the whole of Lithuania, there is a new investigation

Raimonda Jačiauskienė, Chief Prosecutor of the Sixth Division of the Kaunas District Prosecutor’s Office, decided to reopen the investigation and instruct to clarify important circumstances that had not been investigated in a year and a half.

The pre-trial investigation was commissioned by another prosecutor, who is already the third prosecutor in this resounding case. The first three suspects were also reportedly denied the convict’s sexual abuse.

The former prisoner is now being cared for by the Center for the Fight against Trafficking in Human Beings and Exploitation (KOPŽI). Its director, Kristina Mišiniencided, made no secret that he was anxiously awaiting the decision of the Kaunas Prosecutor’s Office.

“The investigation of this crime is for us a litmus test that will show where our country stands today in the implementation of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms,” he said.

While the investigation of crimes that have been committed in the Pravieniškės Correctional Center for many years will be supervised and led by another prosecutor, the investigation will continue to be carried out by the criminal intelligence officers of the penitentiary, who must ensure that no one is imprisoned, injured, extorted, or sexually abused. Those who for many years allowed the leaders of criminal groups to informally manage the penitentiary; after all, the history of the Pravieniškės mafia was revealed when the Pravieniškės intelligence officers and the Kaunas prosecutors took over the investigation by agents from the Lithuanian Criminal Police Office and the Attorney General’s Office.

“We are well aware that it is not enough for the tortured prisoner to moan, violate and humiliate our indignation under favorable conditions in prison; evidence is needed,” said K. Mišinienė. – And these must be collected. I will honestly say, such treatment with evidence that can confirm the victim’s story – missing or incomplete entries in the medical book, the doctor will not “tell you” and so on. – I’m terrified. Or – the statement of prison officials that they had not heard anything about possible sexual abuse against the convicted person, while the medical staff of the same institution recorded such violence. What, if not unprecedented arbitrariness, is the absolute power to trample the weakest?

The director of KOPŽI does not hide that she has seen hundreds of disadvantaged people during her many years of work, but what she saw when she visited Pravieniškės correctional institution with Jonas cannot be forgotten until now.

“One of the most difficult tests in our work practice was accompanying this completely injured man to identify his places of rape at the Pravieniškės Correctional Center,” admitted K. Mišinienė. “Here here, in the showers, in the bathrooms, under the stairs, in the pantry,” some closed the door, others squeezed my head … “said the man with difficulty, and we, accompanying him with a group of Officers, we whisper to enraged onlookers that this road of suffering will never end. “

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 detention center, 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 heck is happening in the prison for prisoners not related to criminal groups for the first time. To the Kaišiadorys prosecutors themselves, 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 released in advance by the Pravieniškės mafia 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 prisoners.

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, they even wrote a letter to the Department of Prisons asking to be transferred to another place of detention, even accessing the jail under the strictest conditions prisons. However, the department management indicated that such a request could only be granted in “exceptional cases”, which is certainly not the case, and again offered Jonas to contact the same Pravieniškės officials who could not guarantee his security and saw nothing.

During the pre-trial investigation, Pravieniškės investigators questioned the convicts who were incarcerated with Jonas at the time, as well as the officers in charge of the inmate’s care, but none confirmed that they knew that Jonas, who had been identified as victim, had been sexually exploited. And some of them, even in their interview transcripts, insisted that no one had hurt John, although they also indicated that they knew nothing about the fact that he 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 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 the Bachur Squad and things like a man’s relationship to 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 he was innocent.

A third suspect was imprisoned in Pravieniškės Prison for sexual abuse of 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.

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

At that time, officers who had examined the former prisoner’s medical records found records confirming that there were indeed events in Pravieniškės.

“Being abused by other prisoners, raped on Sunday, it doesn’t mean much because he fears the consequences,” Benjamin Saver, a doctor who was working in Pravieniškės at the time, said in a medical record.

Another record of this doctor also mentions terrible events: “Every day, members of the squad come with new torture, they urinate on the bedding, they beat them, they try to rape them. Afraid 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 is not even allowed to eat. “

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

During questioning, Saver revealed an even worse 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.

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

“The sexual violence used 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 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 the police to avoid any 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.

At the end of the investigation, the prosecutor pointed out that all procedural possibilities for collecting evidence had been exhausted.

But R. Jačiauskienė, the Chief Prosecutor of the 6th Division of the Kaunas District Prosecutor’s Office, who examined the complaint of D. Povilius, a lawyer hired to represent JSC KOPŽI, did not agree with this conclusion.

“The decision to terminate a pre-trial investigation against suspects without gathering sufficient evidence to substantiate their guilt in a crime can only be made after all possibilities to collect data relevant to the investigation have been clarified and exhausted,” said the chief prosecutor. “Examination of the material from the pre-trial investigation revealed that not all the circumstances relevant to the investigation had been clarified and assessed during the investigation.”

Upon reopening the investigation, the officers were instructed not only to conduct additional interviews with doctors who should have been aware of the violence experienced by the prisoner at that time, but also with officials responsible for preventing crimes. His interviews are not informative and important circumstances of the event have not been clarified.