Tsivas: closed trial on Kusaite's case is caused by reluctance to disclose links of Lithuanian secret services with Russian FSB

In the opinion of journalist Thomas Tsivas, who has been monitoring the case of the Lithuanian girl Egle Kusaite, accused of preparing terror act in Russia, from the very beginning, the decision of the court to hold sessions behind closed doors has to do with the fact that the state security agency of Lithuania does not want to reveal its relationships with the Russian Federal Security Bureau (FSB) and uncover Lithuanian special agents.

"I've been just working on my article for a Lithuanian edition, where I wrote that Arvidas Anushauskas, chairman of the Lithuanian parliamentary committee on national security, once it became generally known about the case, kept rejecting any cooperation of the State Security Department (SSD) of Lithuania with the Russian FSB, calling it a provocation," Thomas Tsivas told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "But what is funny: in the huge file of Egle's case we managed to find a document, officially naming the FSB employees, who will take part in the inquiry - with their names and ranks."

"The judges have decided to consider the case at "non-public sessions," allegedly because secret methods of work of the Lithuanian state security may be disclosed. Also, there are two secret witnesses in the case - both from the SSD, who had been 'processing' Egle Kusaite back since 2007. Although it's quite possible to question secret witnesses without closed sessions - it's not a problem," said the journalist.

"The hearing of the case, as I suspect, was deliberately dated to the Catholic Christmas in order to diminish the resonance; however, they failed to cut the media interest completely," said Tsivas.

Earlier, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent met Egle Kusaite personally in Vilnius. The girl, accused of preparing a terror act in Russia, said that during her detention in the Lithuanian pre-trial facility she was interrogated by Russian FSB agents. She does not deny this fact now.

"When he was in detention in the end of March this year, I already knew that I'd be questioned by FSB officers. It was after the terror acts in the Moscow metro. Three persons came; these where the interrogations, when they injected some drugs into me. The first interrogation with the Russians was held at the General Prosecutor's Office with participation of Prosecutor Lautsius and advocate Lyutvinska," said the girl.

According to Egle, initially the FSB officers treated her well. "They said: you're a clever girl, and you'll say all that is needed. We know that you know more, but you don't talk. Give evidences against the Magmadovs. It'll be better for you," Egle Kusaite quotes FSB agents. "As I recall, I didn't say anything at all; I just turned away from them. Then, they started beating me. I don't remember exactly who and how beat me; but they beat my sides, pulled by hair, hit against the wall and the floor; and beat in the area of the kidneys."

The beatings, as the girl noted, were not fixed. "I didn't go to doctors, because they told me: don't even dare to go - you'll die on the same day. <...> Then, in the last few days, there were threats that I'd be taken away to Russia and blown up there; and the same would be done with Aishat Magmadova," Egle told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to Gintautas Bukauskas, an activist of the Lithuanian Association "Lithuania-Chechnya", the cases of Apti and Aishat Magmadova, and the case of Egle Kusaite, are tests for human rights defenders of Russia and Lithuania. "In Soviet time dissidents in Russia and Lithuania closely cooperated. Now, the cooperation of our rights defenders is very episodic," he said. "God willing and these cases will help us to better understand that after twenty years of independence Lithuania has gone not so far ahead of Russia. Although we are a NATO and EU country, our legal system remains 100-percent Soviet. Lithuania had no de-Sovietization; and people of Lithuania look at the legal system same as in Russia - an ordinary person has no hopes for a fair trial."