Kaunas police detain Bernardas Bučas over suspected Kauno diena sign arson

Kaunas police have detained Bernardas Bučas, the grandson of Salomėja Nėris, on suspicion of setting fire to a sign for the newspaper Kauno diena, LRT reported, citing the news outlet 15min.

The sign, mounted on the facade of a multi-storey building, was doused with petrol and set alight. The incident took place at about 11.20 p.m. on October 13 on K. Donelaičio Street in Kaunas.

Bučas was detained as part of a pre-trial investigation into the destruction of property by a method posing a danger to the public. He was arrested at home in an apartment building in Gričiupis, 15min reported.

15min reported that Bučas had been linked to a number of previous attacks, which Kauno diena had covered. The outlet said he had set fire to the former Santaka police station building, aggressively pursued a bailiff over debts related to unpaid traffic fines, and attacked a Nigerian citizen at a public transport stop because he disliked the man’s appearance.

The outlet also reported that Bučas had placed stone crosses outside bailiffs’ offices in central Kaunas. The crosses had been taken from a heritage-protected cemetery for German soldiers killed in the First World War, located in Vilkaviškis district at Nėris’s birthplace. It also said Bučas had fired at firefighters who came to extinguish a fire he had started.