On Saturday hundreds demonstrated in front of the prosecutor's offices in Vilnius and Kaunas in support of Kedys, the primary suspect in the Oct. 5 double murder. The demonstrators left candles, toys and placards like those above in Vilnius. The sign reads "Drąsius Kedys — vaikų gynėjas" (Drąsius Kedys — child protector). Photo by Nathan Greenhalgh.
VILNIUS — Typically the primary suspect in a double murder is not considered a figure of sympathy.
But the Drąsius Kedys case has tapped into Lithuanians’ cynicism and righteous indignation with the state of their country’s criminal defense system. The Kaunas man’s presumed motive in the killing of District Court Judge Jonas Furmanavičius and Violeta Naruševičienė, the sister of his former girlfriend, is revenge for the sexual assault of his 4-year-old daughter which Kedys alleges authorities were turning a blind eye to.
It’s a system that Saturday’s pro-Kedys demonstrators at the prosecutor’s offices in Vilnius and Kaunas say is corrupt, indifferent to its citizens and more concerned about protecting the strong than the weak.
At least a hundred showed up at each demonstration, leaving signs on the building saying “pedofilų irštva” (pedophile’s lair) and “Drąsius Kedys — vaikų gynėjas” (Drąsius Kedys — child protector).
Online support
Meanwhile on the social networking website Facebook, two fan pages have cropped up in the aftermath of the Oct. 5 killings, one with more than 17,000 members and the other with 4,000.
“He paid for the child’s tears with his own blood” is the translated motto of one group, while the other’s stated motto read “There comes a time when the law must be taken in your own hands,” before it was taken down a few days ago.
Each group has multiple photos of Kedys and the latest headlines on his case. Underneath the photos and updates are hundreds of comments, which often read something to the effect of “if it were my child, I would kill them, too.”
Internal investigation
The Prosecutor General’s Office, one of several that handled the investigation of the sexual assault of Kedys’ daughter, announced Monday that it is looking into where mistakes may have been made.
“This is really a very painful case. An internal investigation is being carried out. An internal audit is conducted by the Prosecutor General’s Office,” Aurelija Juodytė, head of the Prosecutor General’s Office’s public relations department, told Baltic Reports.
President Dalia Grybauskaitė said Monday that she was dissatisfied with how the investigators handled Kedys case, and after meeting with her that day Prosecutor General Algimantas Valantinas said, “There are indications that not everything was done properly in respect of alleged sexual exploitation of the girl. No officer related to this investigation shall escape responsibility.”
Suspect in alleged rape and molestation named
Tuesday the LNK television network revealed that Andrius Ūsas, one of the men Kedys alleges assaulted his daughter, is being treated as a suspect in the case. However, authorities say that while Ūsas was questioned about Kedys’ allegations, no charges have been filed against him and police say they expect to find other suspects. Ūsas is currently under police protection from Kedys, who has not been spotted since Oct. 5. Kedys is considered armed and dangerous.
