Parents That Abducted Their Children In Lithuania Wanted To Take Them To Belarus

The kidnappers were detained 1 km from the border.

On July 18, three children disappeared from the Pastogė care home in Kaunas in Lithuania. It was suspected that children aged 5, 7 and 9 were kidnapped by their parents. The court ruled to take the abducted children away from the family in May 2023 because the children did not attend school and kindergarten, the parents did not create conditions for the socialization of children and stated that they do not consider it necessary to obey Lithuanian laws. Now these children have been found and it seems that the parents wanted to take them to Belarus, writes Delfi.lt.

A representative of the Lithuanian Police Department officially announced that young children abducted a few weeks ago in Kaunas were found.

The police report that the family was detained today at 12:50 very close to the border with Belarus. The man driving a Ford Focus showed German documents to the border guards, spoke German, and when the border guards began to study the documents, he tried to leave.

“The detainees showed false documents. They were detained 1 km from the border with Belarus, it is assumed that they planned to illegally cross the border,” the police said.

Prosecutor Darius Valkavičius said that they are now investigating the kidnapping of children. According to him, it is quite possible that the family planned to illegally cross the border with Belarus in the Ignalina region. There is a version that they could apply for asylum in Belarus.

For the kidnapping of children, parents face a fine, restriction of freedom, arrest or imprisonment for up to two years.

The court ruled to take the abducted children away from the family in May 2023 because the children did not attend school and kindergarten, the parents did not create conditions for the socialization of children, the parents themselves said that they do not consider it necessary to obey Lithuanian laws.

The father of the children said that he was a representative of the movement of sovereign citizens. Supporters of this movement do not recognize the legal system and the state, they claim that they are private companies that belong to no one.

The danger of this movement was emphasized by the Department of State Security last year after 25 members of this movement were detained in Germany. They were planning an attack against the country's parliament. It has been reported that people who have declared themselves “sovereigns” believe that the restrictions acting in the state do not apply to them.

“Several dozen sovereigns who consider themselves citizens of the USSR or the LSSR are active in Lithuania as well. Some of them publicly declare their nostalgia for the Soviet era, their respect for the monuments to the Soviet military, they previously collaborated with pro-Kremlin propagandists in Lithuania, traveled to Belarus to “improve” bilateral relations and positively assessed the regime of this country,” the Department reported.