Men jailed in Lithuania after vandalizing statue of national hero on orders of Russian military intelligence
Adolfas Ramanauskas-Vanagas, leader of the resistance against the Soviet occupation, is considered a national hero in Lithuania. Credit: Alfredas Pliadis / Alamy / Profimedia
A court in Kaunas sent three men behind bars accused of vandalizing the statue of a hero of the resistance against the Soviet occupation, reports AFP.
The Kaunas Regional Court ruled that the men, two with dual Estonian-Russian citizenship and one Russian citizen, desecrated a monument dedicated to Adolfas Ramanauskas-Vanagas, a leader of the country's post-war resistance against Soviet occupation.
The court found that their actions amounted to supporting another state in “activities hostile to Lithuania”, writes LRT.
According to prosecutors, the men acted as part of an organized group carrying out tasks assigned by Russia's military intelligence service, the GRU, aimed at “destabilizing the Lithuanian state”. The court confirmed that the defendants aided the GRU in its actions against Lithuania.
Nikolai Silin received a combined sentence of 3 years in prison, Konstantin Venkov was sentenced to 2½ years and Anton Patrakov to 4 years.
The three were found guilty of multiple counts, including assisting a foreign state in actions against Lithuania, destroying or damaging property, and desecrating a grave or other place of public worship.
After recording the period already spent behind bars, the convicts will serve sentences approximately 14 months shorter than those imposed, the court stated.
The decision is not final and may be appealed.
Ramanauskas-Vanagas, who was executed in 1957, is considered a national hero in Lithuania, where he led the armed resistance against Soviet occupation after World War II.
Local media reported that one of the men admitted that the statue in Merkine, a town in southern Lithuania, was painted red in January 2024. However, he claimed that he did not know the identity of the person who ordered the act of vandalism, nor who was the hero to whom the statue had been erected. He further denied that he was motivated solely by money.
Ramanauskas-Vanagas was cremated in a state funeral in 2018.
