Lithuanian court opens second case into murder of anti-Soviet resistance commander

Stanislovas Drelingas, a former officer of Soviet repressive structures, is accused in this case of participating in a secret operation in October, 1956 to detain one of the commanders of the Lithuanian anti-Soviet resistance movement and his wife Birutė Mažeikaitė-Vanda.

Following his detention, Ramanauskas was kept in a KGB prison in Vilnius and tortured for a year. He was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court of the Soviet Republic of Lithuania on 24-25 September 1957 and executed on 29 November in Vilnius.

Kaunas Regional Court is also hearing another case into the detention and murder of Ramanauskas. The defendants in that case, Ilja Vorobjov ir Jadvyga Kuprenienė, are witnesses in the new case.

The court failed to start the case hearing on Tuesday as one of the judges could not attend the hearing. The next hearing is scheduled for 16 October.

Around 50,000 Lithuanians, the so-called “forest brothers”, took part in the anti-Soviet resistance movement in post-war Lithuania.