VILNIUS - The Lithuanian Court of Appeals on June 20 ruled that former Soviet collaborators will have to pay 150,000 litas (43,443 euros) in non-pecuniary damages to Martina Astrauskaite-Bikuliciene, a relative of resistance fighters murdered more than a half century ago.
Bikuliciene's father and uncle, Jonas and Antanas Astrauskai, were the last resistance fighters in Western Lithuania's Sakiu district and among the last of the country's estimated 30,000 men killed in the nation's anti-Soviet resistance movement, which lasted until 1953.
The two were killed on January 2, 1953 during a special operation organized by Soviet forces and local collaborators. The operation was held following a report by Soviet secret service agent Martina Zukaitiene, who revealed where the resistance fighters' bunker was located. She was paid 2,000 Soviet rubles for the information, according to archive documents.
The operation itself was led by Vytautas Vasiliauskas, a lieutenant-colonel in the Soviet security services. During the operation he and 12 other soldiers surrounded the bunker, where the Astrauskai brothers were hiding. One of the brothers died inside the bunker as it was blown up, the other was shot by soldiers while trying to escape.
Vasiliauskas, in a report made after the operation, wrote that he "personally liquidated one of the bandits."
Based on the archive documents, the Kaunas District Court in 2004 found Vasiliauskas and Zukaitiene guilty of murdering the resistance fighters. Zukaitiene was sentenced to five years in prison, while the punishment for Vasiliauskas was six years. Both were released due to poor health.
However, later the same year the district court rejected a claim by Bikuliciene for non-pecuniary and material damages for her family.
"The judges asked us why we did not claim damages immediately after the incident, that is, in 1953. And this is the best illustration of why Lithuanian people do not trust the courts. Who would ask such a question, if he had any common sense?" Dainius Bikulicius, grandson of Jonas Astrauskas, said after the court's decision.
Judges in the Court of Appeals seem to agree with his assessment. In its June 20 ruling the court said that the sentences given to Zukaitiene and Vasiliauskas and announced by the district court created a basis for Bikuliciene's claim for damages.
"The judges believe that the issue of non-pecuniary damages should be decided taking into account the historic environment 's Lithuania's occupation and annexation 's as well as the fact the plaintiff, under conditions of occupation, in reality had no right to compensation for damage, as claimed by the district court," the Court of Appeals said in its ruling.
It also said that compensation to the relatives of victims is right and just, taking into account the "moral empathy and other hardships caused by the above crimes."
But the court also decided that 150,000 litas in non-pecuniary damages would be fair compensation, less than the 250,000 litas Bikuliciene claimed for her father and uncle.
The court also rejected a 16,500 litas claim for material damages, pointing to the fact that Bikuliciene was paid 20,000 litas in 2000 as compensation for her deceased father by the state.
"We know that we will most likely not get the money, but the most important thing is that justice has been reinstated. Until now I thought that there was no justice in Lithuania," Bikuliciene told journalists after the court's decision.
She may be right about the money as the sum total of Zukaitiene's property is about 12,000 litas, while Vasiliauskas' only property is a house that has already been seized by the court for debts.
