Public frustrated, as children murders continue in Lithuania

A new series of crimes against children has shocked Lithuania, EADaily’s correspondent reports. Yet not so long ago, the people were frustrated by vicious murders of minors and the government passed more laws to protect children, which did not stop the wave of violence, unfortunately.

It was reported yesterday that in Šiauliai city, two children at the age of six and five were taken to the local kindergarten with injuries after their drunk stepfather beat them up. Later, in the same residential block, the police found a three-year-old girl with signs of beating on her face.

On February 28, a 7-month-old baby girl died at the Šiauliai city hospital. The kid was hospitalized in coma after her mother with her 24-year-old cohabiting partner had beaten her up. According to local media, earlier the couple was reported to have repeatedly beaten up the baby, but the prosecutor’s office did not respond properly.

A few days prior to that incident, on February 25, in Jonava city, a dead body of an infant was found near garbage containers. Investigation was launched on the fact of murder. The mother of the baby girl was detained last Saturday and was set free in a couple of days. The woman is to undergo psychological examination.

To recall, a month ago, thousands in Lithuania marched in commemoration of the four-year-old boy who was beaten up to death by his mother and her cohabitating partner on January 27 in Kėdainiai. Residents of twenty cities in Lithuania joined the protests as well as Lithuanians residing in sixteen countries. The people lit kindles in memory of the child. Prime Minister of Lithuania Saulius Skvernelis demanded immediate legislative amendments to better protect children’s rights.

The female participants in the commemoration marches with tears in their eyes blamed the authorities for economic collapse, unemployment and grim future. In response to promises of parliamentarians and ministers saying, “Nothing of the kind will happen again,” the desperate women responded: “It will happen again and again.” The protesting mothers recalled that in early January 2016, a 36-year-old resident of the same Kėdainiai region threw two children into a well. Then politicians promised again, “nothing of the kind will happen again.”