After the Klaipėda Regional Court of Appeal ruled that prosecutors reasonably refused to apply public interest protection measures regarding the monument to poet Salomėja Nėris, the capital's municipalities will begin consultations on the removal.
"Now, as with everything else, it is clear that in the near future we will have to decide on its removal from that place and its transfer to some other place, where the monument, as was planned in the recommendations of the Genocide Center, would be exhibited for museum purposes," Kamilė Gogelienė, chairwoman of the Vilnius Municipality Historical Memory Commission, told BNS on Wednesday.
According to her, the city wants to consult with the relatives of the author of the sculpture, S. Nėris, and interested institutions regarding the erection of the monument and a suitable location for it.
The monument-bust of the poet, created by sculptor Vladas Vildžiūnas and architects Gediminas Baravykas and Gytis Ramunis, was erected in 1974 and included in the Register of Cultural Properties in 1993, but is not protected by the state.
"We have not yet started any consultations with either side and will look for the most appropriate solution. I do not think it will be very quick, but the obligation is clear, it may not be easy for the municipality," said K. Gogelienė.
"We have already renamed both the street and the school, so we thought that perhaps some kind of memorial to S. Nėris could remain as a poet, but we certainly do not question the decision of the institutions and we are inclined to implement them," added the chairwoman of the Historical Memory Commission.
According to her, the monument could be exhibited not necessarily in Vilnius if relatives decide that another location is suitable for it.
Court: Prosecutors rightly refused to defend public interest
This was stated last week by the Klaipėda Regional Court of Appeal, which examined the complaint of the poet's granddaughter, Salomėja Bučaitė, and the Lithuanian Association of Artists.
In its ruling of May 15, it left unchanged the decision of the Vilnius City District Court of March this year, by which it terminated the civil case and dismissed the complaint regarding the prosecutors' refusal to apply public interest protection measures.
As the court of first instance determined, the prosecutors based their decision on the fact that the legal consequences of the order of the Lithuanian Genocide and Resistance Research Center (LGGRTC) to remove the monument fall within the scope of public interest regulation, but there is no basis for applying protective measures, since no violation of legal acts has been established.
The Court of Appeal found that the Vilnius City District Court, within the limits of its competence, verified the actions of the prosecutors and adopted a lawful and justified ruling.
"There is no legal basis for changing or repealing it based on the arguments of a separate complaint (by S. Bučaitė and the Lithuanian Association of Artists – BNS), therefore it should be left unchanged," states the Klaipėda Regional Court.
As noted in his ruling, S. Nėris' granddaughter and the association applied to the Vilnius Regional Prosecutor's Office in September last year, asking it to defend the public interest in court regarding the removal of the monument.
After the district prosecutor refused to apply public interest protection measures in October, this decision was recognized as justified and lawful by the public interest protection prosecutor of the Prosecutor General's Office in December.
The applicants appealed these decisions of the prosecutors to the Vilnius City District Court and later to the Klaipėda Regional Court, requesting their annulment.
The latter's ruling enters into force on the day of its publication, but can still be appealed in cassation within three months.
"That's why I'm saying that we won't rush, but several instances have already spoken out and the trend is clear, so we can start holding consultations," noted K. Gogelienė.
The De-Sovietization Commission recommended that the monument be moved.
As BNS reported, the so-called De-Sovietization Commission recommended to the Vilnius municipality to move the monument dedicated to S. Nėria in August last year. Later, the decision to this effect was made by the head of the LGGRTC, Arūnas Bubnys.
"After the Genocide Center (decision – BNS), the municipality was already obligated, but when legal proceedings are underway, we cannot take hasty actions, (…) so we simply waited for the court's decision," said K. Gogelienė.
The Commission has found that S. Nėris operated in occupation-political structures and actively participated in making decisions that had an impact on consolidating the Soviet occupation.
Together with other writers, S. Nėris created poetry and prose praising the Soviet government. In 1940, as a delegate of the People's Seimas, she went to Moscow with a request to accept Lithuania into the Soviet Union.
The ban on the promotion of totalitarian, authoritarian regimes and their ideologies has been in effect in Lithuania since May 2023. According to it, symbols of totalitarianism and authoritarianism – monuments, names of streets, squares, public objects, and other symbols – must be removed from public spaces.
Author Dominykas Biržietis
[email protected], Lithuanian news department
