Judges urge prosecution of Kedys’ sister

VILNIUS - On Nov. 26, the Council of Judges decided to ask the Prosecutor General’s Office to start an investigation against Neringa Venckiene, a judge in the Kaunas district who, according to this sitting of judges, insulted the Panevezys court. The Council of Judges also called for prosecution of Laimute Kediene for similar behavior. Venckiene is the sister of the famous Drasius Kedys, while Kediene is his mother.

The Kedys story is known to everybody in Lithuania. On Oct. 5 last year, Kedys, 37, who said his young daughter (she is now six years old) had been the victim of pedophiles (including Andrius Usas, who mysteriously drowned in June this year), gunned down (as prosecutors officially suspect) Kaunas Judge Jonas Furmanavicius and the aunt of Kedys’ daughter. Earlier, Kedys publicly blamed both of them for being involved in the molestation. After the double murder in Kaunas, Kedys was at large. In April, Kedys was found dead near Kaunas. A gun, which was used in the double murder, was found near Kedys’ corpse. Officials concluded that Kedys died due to vomiting caused by alcohol abuse. Now Lithuanian prosecutors asked Swedish experts to confirm or deny this version of Kedys’ death. Kedys and Laimute Stankunaite, his former girlfriend, had a long fight over their daughter. Since the killings of Oct. 5, Kedys’ daughter has been living under the temporary custody of Venckiene.

On Nov. 17, the court in Panevezys decided to close the case against Usas due to the death of this suspect in the child molestation case. After the decision, Venckiene made a statement to journalists, who gathered in the corridor of the Panevezys court. “They should not think that now they extinguished everything, while they are corrupt bribe takers protecting the clan of perverts,” Venckiene said about the Panevezys court’s judges, who stopped the alleged pedophilia case. Kediene described those judges of Panevezys as “bandits.”

“Such statements insult judges,” said Laima Garneliene, chairwoman of the Council of Judges, explaining the decision of Nov. 26. Theoretically, Venckiene can get up to two years’ imprisonment due to such accusations.
According to various TV phone-in voting and Internet comments, it seems that the majority of Lithuanians believe Venckiene, who states that prosecutors and judges act as advocates of some secret pedophile clan of the high-rank elite.

There are fears that a decision of the court, which is expected in the near future, regarding the return of Kedys’ daughter to her mother, can provoke clashes in the Kaunas district where Venckiene lives. Venckiene announced that she will go into politics. In the coming spring, she will probably participate in the municipal elections and after two years, in the parliament elections. Many parties probably would like to see Venckiene among their ranks, but she can go to municipal elections with a Kedys’ fan movement led by her aunt, and during the parliament elections, Venckiene could easily win as an independent candidate in her constituency because Lithuanian TV3 popularizes her in a special program on the Kedys’ case every Wednesday on prime time now for a second TV season.