Monitoring at the Rasos Cemetery – from March 2013

As already reported, another act of vandalism took place at the Rasos Cemetery in Vilnius. An unknown perpetrator put a cardboard box with the words “Caution, bomb!” and “Poles, get out of here” on the tombstone of Józef Piłsudki’s Mother and his heart. There was also an inscription on the fence: “V. Tomaševski, nustok kenkti Lietuvai, arba tavo vieta — čia” (“V. Tomaszewski, stop harming Lithuania, or you’ll find yourself here”).

Paulius Radvilavičius, a PR representative of the Vilnius police station, an investigation was initiated in this case. “On November 24 at 9:05 we were notified by a citizen who was riding a bike near the cemetery. He reported the poster with Tomaszewski’s name and the box. The police went to the place and found the box, which was empty. A preliminary investigation was initiated under Article 284 of the Criminal Code of Lithuania >On a violation of public order<. During the investigation, we shall not give any details about the case”.

This is yet another act of vandalism. The previous one took place back in June, when the Mausoleum of Marshal and his mother was desecrated with “Pillars of Gediminas” painted red.  That act of vandalism was condemned by the Prime Minister of the Lithuanian government, Andrius Kubilius, the chairwoman of the Parliament Irena Degutiene and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis. Even though the Rasos Cemetery is included in the list of cultural monuments, the cemetery is not yet provided with proper monitoring and protection of historical monuments.

Edita Tamošiūnaitė, the deputy director of the local government of the city of Vilnius, informed us that the problem of i.e. monitoring at the Rasos cemetery was discussed during the Monday morning meeting of the government: “From previous discussions with the Polish embassy in Vilnius we agreed that the embassy will fund the purchase of cameras, and the city will be responsible for connecting them to the general monitoring system of the city. We want to start monitoring the Rasos cemetery in March next year, after the tender”.

Source: http://kurierwilenski.lt/2012/11/26/monitoring-na-rossie-juz-od-marca-2013-r/ 

Tłumaczenie Ewelina Zarembska w ramach praktyk w Europejskiej Fundacji Praw Człowieka, www.efhr.eu. Translated by Ewelina Zarembska the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.