Fifteen Lithuanian freedom fighters and other Soviet genocide victims buried in Jūžintai cemetery

Fifteen Lithuanian freedom fighters and other victims of Soviet genocide were buried in the cemetery of Jūžintai town in Rokiškis district, reports LRT.

The remains of 15 Soviet-killed partisans and their relatives, discovered last year and this year near the old Jūžintai cemetery, close to the former NKVD headquarters in potato storage pits, were laid to rest. This is the first time in Lithuania that so many freedom fighters have been buried at once.

Nine of the remains have been identified, while the identities of four others are still being determined, with their DNA stored in a database.

According to NKVD reports, from the very beginning of the second Soviet occupation, the Jūžintai partisans actively resisted the communist regime. The partisan war against the Soviet occupation in Lithuania lasted until the 1950s, involving at least 50,000 people. Around 100,000 Lithuanians participated in the resistance movement as members of underground organisations or supporters, with over 20,000 killed.