Capital punishment in Lithuania
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Capital punishment in Lithuania was ruled unconstitutional and abolished for all crimes in 9 December 1998.
Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
is a member of the
Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...
and has signed and ratified Protocol 13 of the
European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by t ...
on complete abolition of death penalty. From March 1990 to December 1998, Lithuania executed seven people, all men. The last execution in the country occurred in July 1995, when Lithuanian mafia boss
Boris Dekanidze Boris Dekanidze ( ka, ბორის დეკანიძე; 13 December 1962 – 12 July 1995) was the head of the ''Vilnius Brigade'' criminal organization in Lithuania. In 1994, he was convicted of ordering the murder of Lithuanian journalis ...
was executed.


Capital punishment in 1990–1998


Legal developments and abolition

In the Lithuanian SSR, the criminal code provided for the death penalty in 16 articles. After the declaration of independence in March 1990, a new criminal code was adopted in December 1991, in which the death penalty was provided only in Article 105 for premeditated murder in
aggravating Aggravation, in law, is "any circumstance attending the commission of a crime or tort which increases its guilt or enormity or adds to its injurious consequences, but which is above and beyond the essential constituents of the crime or tort itself. ...
circumstances. Lithuania became a signatory of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is a multilateral treaty that commits nations to respect the civil and political rights of individuals, including the right to life, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedo ...
in February 1992. The covenant, among other things, provided that each person had the right to petition for clemency. In July 1994, amendments to the criminal code specified that women or people younger than 18 at the time of the crime could not receive death sentences. The execution of the death penalty was suspended on July 25, 1996 by a decree of President
Algirdas Brazauskas Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas (, 1932 – 2010) was the first President (fourth overall) of a newly re-independent post-Soviet Lithuania from 1993 to 1998 and Prime Minister from 2001 to 2006. He also served as head of the Communist Party of Li ...
. The president refused to review clemency petitions without which no death penalty could be carried out. Abolition of the death penalty was one of the requirements for Lithuania's accession to the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
in its 2004 enlargement. However, opinion polls found that 70–80% of Lithuanians supported its retention. Thus, members of
Seimas The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublikos Seimas), or simply the Seimas (), is the unicameral parliament of Lithuania. The Seimas constitutes the legislative branch of government in Lithuania, enacting laws and amendmen ...
(the Lithuanian parliament) were reluctant to vote for its abolition. Instead, Seimas brought a case to the
Constitutional Court of Lithuania Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania (in lt, Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucinis Teismas) is the constitutional court of the Republic of Lithuania, established by the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania of 1992. It began th ...
to determine whether the death penalty was constitutional. On December 9, 1998, the Constitutional Court ruled that it was unconstitutional as it was contrary to Articles 18 (''Human rights and freedoms shall be innate''), 19 (''The right to life of a human being shall be protected by law''), and 21.3 (''It shall be prohibited to torture or injure a human being, degrade his dignity, subject him to cruel treatment, or to establish such punishments'') of the Constitution of Lithuania. On December 22, the criminal code was amended to strike out the death penalty effective December 31, 1998. Sentences for nine people on
death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting Capital punishment, execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of ...
were commuted to life imprisonment. In 2013, a violent murder of a woman reignited the debate on the capital punishment. Parliament Speaker
Vydas Gedvilas Vydas Gedvilas (born 17 May 1959) is a Lithuanian basketball coach and politician, former Speaker of the Seimas, member of the Labour Party. Gedvilas graduated from the Lithuanian State Institute of Physical Education (now Lithuanian Sports Un ...
publicly stated that the idea of reintroducing capital punishment merits consideration and members of the Order and Justice proposed a bill to reinstate it. A poll found that about half of the respondents would support capital punishment, and only 37 percent were against the death penalty.


List of executions

Between 1990 and 1995, some 30 people received death sentences. From March 1990 to December 1998, Lithuania executed seven men by shooting with a single firearm: # August 8, 1992 – Aleksandras Novatkis (age 24) for murder of a 12-year-old witness to his theft # December 12, 1993 – Vladimiras Ivanovas (age 30) for murder of a mother and her 4-year-old daughter # December 12, 1993 – Valentinas Laskys (age 40) for murder of four people # January 27, 1994 – Vidmantas Žibaitis (age 29) for murder of three elderly people # September 28, 1994 –
Antanas Varnelis Antanas Varnelis (1971 – September 28, 1994) was a Lithuanian serial killer who killed six people and attempted to kill three more between July and December 1992, in several municipalities around the country (Kelmė, Šiauliai, Raseiniai, Ša ...
(age 23) for six murders and three attempted murders in July–December 1992 # May 18, 1995 – Aleksandras Gudkovas (age 39) for murder of two people # July 12, 1995 –
Boris Dekanidze Boris Dekanidze ( ka, ბორის დეკანიძე; 13 December 1962 – 12 July 1995) was the head of the ''Vilnius Brigade'' criminal organization in Lithuania. In 1994, he was convicted of ordering the murder of Lithuanian journalis ...
(age 33) for ordering the murder of journalist Vitas Lingys


Capital punishment in 1918–1940


Legal basis and execution methods

When Lithuania declared independence in February 1918, it inherited the 1903 criminal code of the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
. The code provided for the death penalty only for crimes against the state (for example, conspiring to intervene with the imperial succession), but military law of war provided for death penalty by shooting or hanging for some 30 different crimes including banditry, robbery, rape, and premeditated murder. When Lithuania updated its statutes in January and February 1919, the duality remained: the death penalty was abolished in the criminal code but was retained in the military law ( lt, Ypatingi valstybės apsaugos įstatai, links=no). Article 14 of the military law provided for death penalty for eight crimes, mostly directed against the state, the military, or the officials, but also included armed robbery with murder. The provisional constitution of 1920 even spoke about the abolition of the death penalty. However, Lithuania with brief interruptions remained under the
martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Marti ...
until November 1938 when it was lifted due to German pressure in the months before the ultimatum of March 1939. Historian Sigita Černevičiūtė counted at least 146 executions in interwar Lithuania, though records are incomplete and fragmentary. Due to the martial law, the executions were carried out by the military by shooting though legal acts provided hanging. In 1937–1940, Lithuania operated a gas chamber in
Aleksotas The Aleksotas elderate ( lt, Aleksoto Seniunija) is an elderate in the southern section of the city of Kaunas, Lithuania, bordering the left bank of the Nemunas River. Its population in 2006 was 21,694. The elderate borders Vilijampolė and Centr ...
within the First Fort of the
Kaunas Fortress Kaunas Fortress ( lt, Kauno tvirtovė, russian: Кοвенская крепость, german: Festung Kowno) is the remains of a fortress complex in Kaunas, Lithuania. It was constructed and renovated between 1882 and 1915 to protect the Russian ...
. In January 1937, the criminal code was amended to provide execution by gas which at the time was viewed as more civilized and humane. Lithuania considered and rejected execution by poison. The first execution was carried on July 27, 1937: Bronius Pogužinskas, age 37, convicted of the murder of five members of a Jewish family. Černevičiūtė counted at least nine executions in the gas chamber. Of the nine, eight were convicted of murder. One, Aleksandras Maurušaitis, was in addition convicted of anti-government actions during the 1935 Suvalkija farmers' strike. The last known execution took place on May 19, 1940, for robbery. The fate of the gas chamber after the occupation by the Soviet Union in June 1940 is unclear.


Noted political executions

During the chaotic years of the
Lithuanian Wars of Independence The Lithuanian Wars of Independence, also known as the Freedom Struggles ( lt, Laisvės kovos), refer to three wars Lithuania fought defending its independence at the end of World War I: with Bolshevik forces (December 1918 – August 1919), Berm ...
, not all executions were properly carried out. For example, in 1919, communist activists and his wife were executed without a trial and
Jurgis Smolskis Jurgis Smolskis ( lt, Jurgis Smolskis-Smalstys, russian: Юрий Осипович Смольский (Yuri Osipovich Smolski), french: Georges Smolski; 1881–1919) was a writer and socialist activist in the Rokiškis District, then part of the R ...
was executed (allegedly during an escape attempt) even though he received only a six-year prison sentence. In February 1920, four men were executed for instigating a mutiny among soldiers stationed in
Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...
. Between the coup in December 1926 and Soviet occupation in June 1940, Lithuania was ruled by authoritarian President
Antanas Smetona Antanas Smetona (; 10 August 1874 – 9 January 1944) was a Lithuanian intellectual and journalist and the first President of Lithuania from 1919 to 1920 and again from 1926 to 1940, before its occupation by the Soviet Union. He was one of the m ...
and there were several political executions. Four communists were executed in the immediate aftermath of the December 1926 coup while sentences of two others were commuted to life imprisonment. Eight people were executed for their participation in the anti-Smetona revolt in Tauragė in September 1927 while 14 other were pardoned. General Konstantinas Kleščinskis was convicted of spying for the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
and executed in June 1927. Aleksandras Vosylius was executed in May 1929 for an assassination attempt on Prime Minister
Augustinas Voldemaras Augustinas Voldemaras (16 April 1883 – 16 May 1942) was a Lithuanian nationalist political figure. He briefly served as the country's first prime minister in 1918 and continued serving as the minister of foreign affairs until 1920, representing ...
. 18 people received death sentences for their participation in the 1935 Suvalkija farmers' strike, but the majority received presidential pardons and only five were executed. In other instances, the presidential pardon was used more generously. For example, three men, including General
Petras Kubiliūnas Petras Kubiliūnas (16 May 1894 – 22 August 1946) was a Lithuanian lieutenant general and Chief of the Lithuanian General Staff in 1929–1934. During World War I, he served in the Imperial Russian Army. In 1919, he joined the Lithuanian Arme ...
, received pardons for their role in the 1934 anti-Smetona coup and five men received pardons for their conviction of murder during the
Neumann–Sass case The trial of Neumann and Sass ( lt, Noimano-Zaso teismo procesas; german: Neumann-Sass-Kriegsgerichtsprozess) was the first and largest mass trial of Nazis in the early 1930s. The trial resulted in the convictions of the leaders of regional Nazi ...
.


References

{{Capital punishment in Europe
Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
Death in Lithuania Human rights abuses in Lithuania 1998 disestablishments in Lithuania