Photo: Marker commemorating Juozas Krikštaponis. Though the city was ordered to remove the bas-relief and inscription, they didn’t do so. Photo by Gediminas Nemunaitis
Ukmergės žinios, April 5, 2025
The Lithuanian administrative court for regions handed down a decision in the case of commemorative markers honoring Juozas Krikštaponis in Ukmergė (Vilkomir).
The cort found partially in favor of the plaintiffs and annulled a decision issued by the Center for the Study of the Genocide and Resistance of Residents of Lithuania (Genocide Center) on August 23, 2023, calling for the removal from the marker stone of the image of the Lithuanian partisan and accompanying inscriptions.
Relatives of Krikštaponis, the Lithuanian Union of Freedom Fighters and the Lithuanian Association of Political Prisoners and Deportees opposed the decision by the director of the Genocide Center and took their complaint to the administrative courts.
The administrative court for regions found the Genocide Center’s decision to remove the bas-relief of Krikštaponis was made without adhering to the law, and that the Center failed to provide clear, specific and reliable evidence that Krikštaponis was complicit in crimes of genocide against Jews.