April 19, 1977, at about 9 a.m., Antanas Miklyčius, residing in Kaunas, at Linkuvos 77-g, was taken from work and brought home, where a search warrant was served on him, and according to the directions of Senior Major for Interrogation Markevičius, a search was made of his apartment, basement and storage space. In charge of the search was Senior Lt. Gavėnas.
The search required about seven hours. Taking part in it were four security agents and two witnesses. Seized in the course of the search were a notebook and three books: At the Cross of Hope, Excerpts from the History of the Church and the Popes, "Diary" (typed pages), The Metropolitan Archbishop of Kaunas (pages), the article by Girnius entitled "History Repeats Itself", etc.
After the search Antanas Miklyčius was taken to Security for questioning.
April 19, security agents brought Jonas Rupšys home from work, and having shown him a warrant with Major Markevičius' signature, carried out a search at his home. The security people were looking for Aušra [another Lithuanian samizdat—Transl. Note], and for theChronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania, as well as other illegal publications. The search took two hours; seized during the search were the book, "Sielos Kultūra (Culture of the Soul), and approximately twenty audio casettes. After the search, Jonas Rupšys was taken to Security for interrogation.
On April 19, at 6 a.m., an official alighted from a car, detained Dr. Povilas Butkevičius on his way to work, and took him back home (Kaunas, Molėtų 18). Here a woman and a man, who had come along, went to Dr. Butkevičius' apartment and introduced themselves as having been "sent by Alfonsas". When they had been allowed in, they showed their Security credentials and invited in five men who had been waiting outside.
A search was begun, which produced: The Chronicle of the Catholic Church No. 25, The Chronicle of Current Events No. 40, a typewriter and an article which had been copied fromAušra, on the machine.
During the search, Liudas Simutis arrived, and was also taken off to Security. The Security people took Dr. Butkevičius to Security headquarters for interrogation, but because of his poor health, they kept him only briefly. He was asked where he obtained the publications, whether he worked with Aušra and the Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania. They asked him whether on February 20 he had not been at the reception in Viduklė, for Liudas Simutis, who had spent 22 years in camps.
That same day, (Miss) Ramunė Butkevičiūtė, a third year student at the Kaunas Institute of Medicine, was summoned from classes and interrogated for seven hours at school, and for six hours at the Security Committee. She was accused of having attended the party for Liudas Simutis at Viduklė, and a meeting about the Battle of Žalgiris. She was threatened with expulsion from the Institute.
From the Džeržinskis loom factory, Vidmantas Butkevičius was summoned and taken to Security headquarters. He was interrogated about participating in illegal meetings and outings.
April 20, (Mrs.) Ona Butkevičienė was summoned from Middle School No. 25 of Kaunas and taken to Security headquarters.
She was questioned about objects iound during the search, and threatened.
April 20, Security agents summoned Viktoras Snieška by telephone. The interrogation lasted seven hours, without mentioning the case in question, and without writing any report. They asked Snieška what tourist ventures he had participated in, who else had participated in them, and what was talked about in their course. They threatened to have him dropped from his water polo team, to keep him from going abroad, etc. They asked him whether he had read the Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania, or Aušra. They accused him of distributing these publications, of other anti-Soviet activities and of studying Lithuanian history with a group of friends.
The Security people asked him how he had met his friends, and even his wife. They said they knew everything, and that they merely needed a complete confession from the accused; someone was going to go to prison at any rate. Viktoras was released by Security only because he had to go to the Republic games. They threatened to summon him again from work.
On April 19, at 11 a.m. Sixth-Class student (Miss) Birutė Žemaitytė of the Medical Institute was interrogated at Security headquarters. She was accused of having been at the party for Liudas Šimutis at Viduklė. The interrogation lasted nine hours, during which time the student was insulted in various ways.
On April 19, (Miss) Elena Kilikevičiūtė and (Miss) Liucija Šinkūnaitė were interrogated. They were interrogated again the next day.
On April 19, there was a search at the home of Antanas Patacką, after which he was interrogated.
April 20, at the Medical Institute in Kaunas, Fifth-Class student Aušra Kugevičiūtė was interrogated. She was asked whether she knew the Butkevičius Family.
April 20, Security agents interrogated at the Medical Institute in Kaunas Fifth-Class student Zita Visbergaitė and accused her of participating in Šimutis' party at Viduklė. The student denied the charge.
April 20, Asta Borisaitė a student in the 9th Class at the Middle School in Naujalis was summoned from school and interrogated. She was asked whether she knew the Butkevičius Family. Asta denied the charges against her.
April 20, at 10 a.m., (Mrs.) Danutė Berutienė, a graduate fellow with the Department of Light Industry at the Polytechnic Institute of Kaunas, was summoned to the Security Committee. She was accused of engaging in illegal activities. The interrogators presented her with lists showing who attended what meetings, where and when. The interrogators demanded that she copy the list and sign it. The interrogation lasted six hours.
That same day, Povilas Martinaitis, an instructor at the Kaunas Polytechnic Institute, was interrogated. He was accused of anti-soviet nationalistic attitudes, which allegedly manifest themselves at evening affairs. The Chekists threatened to bring Martinaitis to trial.
April 21, Šarūnas Boruta was interrogated. He was accused of reading and distributingAušra and the Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania, and also of spreading nationalistic ideas, on group outings and similar occasions.
The interrogators demanded that he confess everything, since they already know everything anyway, and he would not go to jail for his tourist activities. Therefore, he could admit everything.
Juozas Dapkevičius was also summoned. The Security people made the same accusations against him. They asked him about tourist activities, about a New Year's carnival, etc. The Security people ordered Dapkevičius to report to the Security Committee April 27.
April 22, in Kulautuva (Komjaunimo g. 12), four Security agents and two witnesses (Miss) Birutė Vilčinskienė and Algimantas Vyšniauskas, searched the apartment, woodshed and basement of (Miss) Stasė Jasiūnaitė.
During the search they seized two copies of a 24-page typed pamphlet about Romas Kalanta; the pamphlet, The Destruction of the Independence of Lithuania, An Act of the Soviet Union's Policy of annexation, the second part of Stories from Life, which Miss Jasiūnaitė was writing, consisting of 620 pages of typescript material for the book and four composition books full of other manuscripts.
During the search the Chief Deputy for Operations, Major V. Žarskis asked Miss Jasiūnaitė whether she received any honorarium for her writings. The suspect replied that her books are not published anywhere, and so she received no royalties.
"You're not going to publish it here—You're going to publish it abroad—in Draugas[Lithuanian Catholic Daily published in Chicago —Transl. Note], sneered Major Žarskis. However, the Major did not say what works and by whom, printed abroad, he had in mind. Miss Jasiūnaitė denied this vague accusation.
After the search, Miss Jasiūnaitė was hauled of to Security Committee offices in Kaunas for questioning.
April 19, at 3 p.m., Security agent Česnavičius and others broke into the apartment of the retired teacher of Middle School No. 7, Bronius JuSka, at Banaičio 5-16, and without presenting any search warrant, began searching and questioning. They accused the teacher of disseminating nationalistic ideas. The Chekists are not very pleased because the teacher allegedly told his pupils about the Battle of Žalgiris. The Security agents complained, in astonishment, "Don't tell us you can't talk about making use of Soviet literature when you're visiting!"
