VILNIUS — The Drąsius Kedys case has transfixed Lithuania. More than a week after the double murder in Kaunas, all the leading media outlets are reporting on the case’s latest developments, while countless conversations and opinion pages debate whether given the state of the country’s criminal justice system, Kedys was validated in his actions or whether enough facts are known to make any solid conclusions. Baltic Reports asked these Lithuanians what they thought about the case — some requested their last names be withheld:

Inga Kniukštaitė, 29 of Tauragė: “Every father would do the same as he [Kedys] did.”

Danutė B., 49 of Utena: : “It’s not only his [Kedys] work, those two murders … I think he’s associated with the Kaunas mafia, Daktarai. That judge that was killed was associated with Daktaras’ cases. It’s obvious that the Daktaras family hated him and wanted to do something.”

“It’s a bad way to fight with that justice system in Lithuania. What if every one of us just tried to prove our rights by violence or murder?”

“It could be a pedophile case, it doesn’t matter that the judge is the one who was murdered, he still could be a pedophile, nothing’s been proved that that wasn’t the case.”

Antanas M., 33 of Vilnius: “There are so many misunderstandings in our judicial system and Kedys showed that our judicial system is working very badly. Maybe it will open their eyes to change something in that. Maybe they will do more reform instead of merely discussing it.”

“I’m not saying that I agree with Kedys’ behavior, but it’s obvious in our society people have to protect their rights by themselves because they always face such situations where either they will do something or nothing will be solved or even discussed.”

“The judge’s murder will lead the judicial system to look at pedophile’s cases more seriously.”

Vitalija Navickaitė, 24 of Panevėžys: “I am on Kedys’ side. If I meet him in the street, I will support him.”

“Nobody thinks about the girl, how she will survive in the future?”

“I can talk only about the law of the state. We don’t live in a true state, the state doesn’t care about people.”

“We should think about our state, about our government, about our law, about simple people and damages. He [Kedys] didn’t have anymore choices, he did everything he could, but nobody paid any attention.”

“I don’t want to believe it, but I think there are a lot of cases like this. It is sad that we are living in a country where people can do nothing for justice.”