Klaipėda court orders removal of Soviet-linked street name

A Lithuanian regional court has ruled that Klaipėda City Municipal Council must rename Salomėjos Nėries Street, following a government decision to remove the Soviet-era name, LRT reports.

The Regional Administrative Court on Tuesday ordered the council to adopt a decision to change the street’s name within one month of the ruling taking effect. The court found that the council had failed to act on a legally binding 2024 decision by Lithuania’s Genocide and Resistance Research Centre, which had determined that the name violated laws prohibiting Soviet ideology.

The Centre’s ruling, issued on 6 March 2024, concluded that poet Salomėja Nėris had participated in occupying political structures and that her work promoted Soviet rule. Though unchallenged and legally enforceable, Klaipėda’s council twice rejected proposals to remove the name, despite the mayor’s support for compliance.

The court emphasised that municipal councils lack discretion to override binding state decisions, citing the principles of legality and the supremacy of law. The case was brought by the government’s representative for Klaipėda and Tauragė counties after the council’s inaction. The ruling may still be appealed.

Nėris, a controversial figure, was part of a 1940 delegation that petitioned Moscow for Lithuania’s incorporation into the Soviet Union. Her legacy remains divisive due to her role in promoting communist totalitarianism.