The panel of judges assessed that there is no basis to mitigate the sentence for A. Patrakov.
The criminal case against the other accused, Nikolai Silin, born in 1982, was terminated because the detainee died in Šiauliai prison. N. Silin died during the appeal process on April 11.
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As BNS wrote, only one of the three convicted persons – A. Patrakov, a Russian citizen born in 1987 – filed an appeal in this case. The Kaunas Regional Court sentenced him to four years of imprisonment. A. Patrakov requested acquittal.
This is the harshest of the sentences imposed by the Kaunas Regional Court last December on three foreigners. According to the first instance court’s assessment, A. Patrakov acted with the main organizers of the crimes.
For N. Silin, who holds dual Estonian and Russian citizenship, and Konstantin Venkov, born in 2005, the regional court imposed sentences of three and two and a half years of imprisonment, respectively.
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As BNS wrote, the three mentioned individuals were found guilty of assisting another state in acting against Lithuania, property damage, and desecration of a grave or other place of public respect.
The court found that N. Silin and A. Patrakov, through vandalistic acts against the monument, and K. Venkov – by collecting information about this and other places of public respect – helped persons acting in the interests of the Russian military intelligence service GRU to act against Lithuania.
The monument to A. Ramanauskas-Vanagas, standing in Merkinė, Varėna district, was doused with red paint in January 2024. The court ordered the defendants to jointly pay 1,500 euros in damages to the Merkinė city museum.
