Convicted activist Švenčionienė requests Landsbergis be called to testify in Medininkai case

A Lithuanian court is reviewing an appeal by Erika Švenčionienė, a pro-Russian activist convicted for a social media post mocking the 1991 Medininkai massacre, after she requested that Vytautas Landsbergis, former chairman of the Supreme Council-Reconstituent Seim, be summoned as a witness, LRT reports.

During Monday’s hearing at Vilnius Regional Court, Švenčionienė claimed Landsbergis’ 2023 speech at a Medininkai memorial event—where he criticised the investigation into the killings—had influenced her case. She argued the court had not properly examined his remarks, which she said contradicted the verdict. Her lawyer, Svetlana Naidenko, requested the speech be re-examined in the appeals process.

The court is considering two appeals: one from Vilnius District Prosecutor’s Office, which seeks a harsher penalty, and another from Švenčionienė herself, who demands the conviction be overturned. Prosecutors argue the original fine of €3,750 was too lenient and have proposed a 1.5-year restricted freedom sentence, including electronic monitoring, a ban on visiting the Medininkai memorial, and mandatory employment registration. They also demand she remove the offending post and pay €1,000 to a victims’ fund.

Švenčionienė has previously stated that Landsbergis’ 2023 remarks—where he called the Medininkai case a “failure of investigation”—prompted her to question the official narrative. In his speech, Landsbergis alleged key witnesses were never interviewed and that the probe was inadequately conducted. Prosecutors, however, maintain her post “grossly trivialised” the Soviet aggression against Lithuania and that her refusal to delete it demonstrates deliberate intent to provoke.

Švenčionienė was convicted in February for a Facebook post that prosecutors said mocked the 1991 killings of seven Lithuanian customs officers by Soviet OMON forces. The original trial heard testimony that her comments denied the established historical and legal classification of the incident as an act of aggression by the USSR.