Award to former KGB officer heats emotions

VILNIUS – On Feb. 16, Lithuanian Independence Day, President Valdas Adamkus awarded a former KGB officer with a state medal, provoking protests from parts of Lithuanian society. Adamkus said he he made no mistake, because the awarded man was useful in getting the country's independence in 1990 and 1991.

The man is Marijonas Misiukonis, a high-ranking KGB officer during the Soviet occupation. However, he became the first interior minister of independent Lithuania in March 1990, when the newly reborn country was withstanding pressure from the Soviet Union.

Adamkus gave the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas to Misiukonis as the first interior minister after the re-establishment of independence on March 11, 1990. Under the command of Misiukonis, the entire Interior Ministry and tens of thousands of armed men ceased to be the militia of the Lithuanian SSR and became the police of independent Lithuania, despite an angry reaction from the Kremlin. Lithuanian police guarded buildings in Vilnius during the Soviet army's aggression in January, 1991.

At the same time, historians and media say, Misiukonis was a high-ranking KGB officer. Recently he lost his job in Vilniaus Bankas' security department because the Lithuanian law bans former KGB employees from working in banks.

The media wrote a lot about the participation of Misiukonis in the KGB operation that caught the last active Lithuanian partisan, Antanas Kraujelis. In 1965 Kraujelis was surrounded by KGB forces in the farmer's house. He shot himself to avoid arrest and torture.

Misiukonis is known as an organizer of KGB operations in Lithuania, Poland and Italy in the 1980s when he was head of the Lithuanian SSR KGB counter-intelligence department, said Lina Peceliuniene, a journalist with Valstieciu laikrastis.

On Feb. 16 Adamkus awarded not only Misiukonis, but dozens of people for their fight for Lithuania's independence. Many of them were elderly veterans of the anti-Soviet partisan movement of 1945 – 1953.

Catholic nun Nijole Sadunaite, a former Soviet-time dissident and long-term political prisoner, was present in the president's office during the award ceremony. She protested loudly while Adamkus was giving the Gediminas Order to Misiukonis. Sadunaite called this award "a shame."

She also made angry remarks while Adamkus gave an award to Kazimiera Prunskiene, Lithuanian prime minister from March 17, 1990 until Jan. 10, 1991. Prunskiene was an economist forced to write accounts about her foreign trips to the KGB in Soviet-times. Prunskiene makes no secret of it, saying that these accounts were just pure formalities.

The award to Misiukonis caused much more controversy than the award to Prunskiene. The scandal was heated by an interview with Misiukonis on Lithuanian TV where he showed no regret about the death of Kraujelis, calling him "an illegal person."

On Feb. 23 approximately 500 mostly elderly people gathered in front of the Parliament building in Nepriklausomybes Square to protest awards to Prunskiene and especially to Misiukonis.

"He is a coward. He has no courage to recognize his crime," Vitalija Kraujelyte said. She is a sister of the legendary partisan Kraujelis. Kraujelyte said that their father, 97, received an award for his son from the president earlier. It is disgusting that the killer of his son received an award this year, she said in the protest meeting.

"How many more genocide makers will be awarded?" asked Petras Cidzikas, a former Soviet-time political prisoner.

The controversial award to Misiukonis provoked different opinions among Parliament members.

"There were awarded not only persons who fought for the Lithuanian state but also persons who had nothing to do with the restoration of the state. Even more – they effectively fought against Lithuania," Stanislovas Buskevicius, MP of Lithuanian National Party "Young Lithuania," said.

Social Democrat MP Aloyzas Sakalas said to the contrary that as interior minister, Misiukonis was faithful to Lithuania's independence during Soviet attacks in 1990 and 1991. Every individual has the right to atone for his guilt, said Sakalas, a Soviet-time political prisoner himself.

Adamkus mentioned criticism of the award in his speech of Feb. 29, when he discussed his two-year anniversary of stepping into office. A big part of his speech was devoted to the controversy over the Gediminas Order award to Misiukonis.

Adamkus said that Misiukonis was awarded not for his Soviet past but for being the interior minister of a re-established independent Lithuania in the crucial years of 1990 and 1991.

"The interior minister swore an oath to tndependent Lithuania and defended it fairly," Adamkus said.

At the same time, Adamkus paid tribute to partisans who fought against the Soviet occupation in the Lithuanian forests and the victims of Soviet repression as well.

"I will never forget my friends from youth murdered in the forests nor my deported relatives. I will never justify Soviet crimes. I will always respect Lithuanian partisans," Adamkus said.

He added that he did not think that the award to Misiukonis was a mistake. Adamkus emphasized that an individual should be given a chance to correct himself. At the same time the president expressed his respect to the position of those who protested against the award to Misiukonis.

"I understand and respect those who do not agree with my decision or have some doubts about it," Adamkus said.