On Tuesday August 23rd of this year, at 3:00 P.M., Chief Interrogator of the Security Committee Major Pilelis, accompanied by Case Officer Major Trakimas, detained Viktoras Petkus and his companion Algis Masilionis at the Vilnius bus station. The Security policemen presented Petkus with a search order of his apartment (Komjaunimo, 35, apt. 8) and demanded that he immediately enter the waiting vehicle. Petkus refused to enter the car, and went to his apartment on foot, accompanied by the security agents. Masilionis also went along. A search was conducted at the apartment of Petkus; both he and Masilionis were also subjected to searches. Petkus wrote a protest in the search report that Masilionis was searched illegally, since there was no authorizing search order.
The following items were confiscated during the search: a portable typewriter, and, from the briefcase which Petkus had with him at the bus station, four copies of Dievas ir Tėvynė (God and Country); Lietuvos Kultūros Archyvas (Archives of Lithuanian Culture); typed copies of Documents 3 and 4 through 12 of the
Lithuanian Public Group Supporting Adherence to the Helsinki Agreements; a statement by Nikius Mart to the Lithuanian group in both Russian and Estonian; three Lithuanian copies and one each in Russian, Latvian and Estonian of the Organizing Document of the Executive Committee of the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian National Movement"; a manuscript document in Latvian signed by Kalninš; a copy of a statement from the pastor of Viduklė to the administrator of the Archdiocese of Kaunas and also 63 pages of letters from A. Šeškevičius.
The search lasted until 6:00 P.M. After the search, V. Petkus and A. Masilionis were taken to Security headquarters. Masilionis was soon released, but Petkus did not return.
That same day and hour (3:00 P.M.) a stranger came to the home of Antanas Terleckas in Vilnius, Nemenčinės pi. No. 68. He was very sorry to hear that his "friend Antanas" was not at home. Terleckas' mother-in-law, who was home at the time, explained that Antanas would not return soon and the guest left, but not for long. Suddenly, several minutes later, the house was surrounded by about fifteen security agents. They showed Terleckas' mother-in-law and daughter an order to search the house and immediately began their task.
The search of Terleckas' home lasted two days. It was directed by Lieut. Col. Česnavičius, section head of the security committee. The search was officially under the command of Capt. Daugalas, who was assigned by chief interrogator Major Pilelis. Security agents Maj. Kalakauskas, Capt. Tušas, Čekenis and others also participated.
The first day, the search lasted until 11:00 P.M. During the search, Terleckas returned home. The Security agents immediately searched him, and when they found nothing, he was told to sit on a chair in the room. But Terleckas stated that he was master in his own home and refused to sit in the indicated spot; he walked around his apartment during the search.
While the search was being conducted (the first day), Juozas Tumelis, employed at the Book Institute, stopped by. He was also searched by the Security agents. Although they found nothing, they detained him, seating him in the room several hours and asking him about the purpose of his visit, about his ties with Terleckas and scolding him for keeping company with such an "anti-Soviet" individual.
During the search, another young man came up to Terleckas' house and through the window asked Terleckas' wife where her son was. (Mrs) Terleckienė hardly had a chance to tell him that her son was not and would not be home, when the visitor was seized by Security agents and dragged inside. The youth refused to give his name and was also seated in the room. A Security agent sat next to him. After sitting for a time, the youth suddenly sprang out of the dooor and escaped into the woods. The Security agents resorted to interrogate the members of the Terleckas family, but no one knew the escaped youth.
The search was broken off at 11:00 P.M. Three Security agents were left to guard the house during the night and Terleckas was arrested and taken to Security headquarters. As he was being lead away, he disregarded the orders of the Security agents, said goodbye to his family, blessed himself in front of the crucifix hanging on the wall, audibly asked God to grant him strength, and told his children to love Lithuania and wait for him because he would still return.
The next day (August 24th), the search was resumed at 9:00 A.M. The search was conducted without Terleckas and was completed at 4:00 P.M. During the two days, the apartment, all outside storage sheds and the woodshed were searched, and the garden and woods surrounding the house were dug up. Moreover, the floor of the storage shed was torn up and the ground underneath was dug up.
From the outside, the searchers brought into the apartment many packages containing miscellaneous literature, saying they had found it in the storage sheds and buried in the garden. Terleckas stated that he assumed responsibility only for the material and items found in his apartment. He had no knowledge of and did not own anything else brought in from the outside. Anyone, including the self-same Security agents who have long "held a grudge" against him and have threatened more than once to "take care of him," could bury or place packages in the yard, garden or woods. Also, anyone could enter the outside storage sheds because they were not locked and someone had recently poisoned the dog.
The following items were found in the apartment of Antanas Terleckas: a typewriter, his personal statements addressed to Pod-gorny and Andropov with copies of them, a copy of the statement by the Rev. P. Račiūnas to the Šakiai Rayon Executive Committee, Siniavsky's telephone number in Paris and several addresses.
From the outside, another typewriter was brought in, and the following were found in the packages: 6 issues ofLietuvių Katalikų Bažnyčios Kronika (Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania); 2 issues of Aušra (Dawn); 3 issues of Laisvės Šauklys (Herald of Freedom); a Russian-language tape of An Open Letter to Editor Chakovsky of the Literaturnaya Gazeta and Documents in the Case of Marchenko; many thick notebooks of notes for Thoughts for a Diary; the memoirs of K. Skebėra in 49 notebooks (handwritten) and 28letters addressed to K. Skebėra; 90 photographs from the book The Case of Kovalev (in Russian) published in 1976 in New York.
A whole list of typed articles was also taken from the packages: "The Merits of A. Sniečkus to Lithuania," "How Exile is Depicted in Soviet Literature," "The History of Lithuania Continues to be Distorted," "Our Tasks," "Days of Tragic Grief," "Why is Lithuania Drowning in Alcohol," "Explanation by P. Griškevičius," "Socialist Revolution in the USSR Legation in Kaunas," "Polish Schools: A Tool for Lithuania's Russification," "Victors Are Not Prosecuted," "Remembering the Conquerors of the Atlantic," "Morality Without Religion," "Let Us Wipe Away Your Tears or the Merits of A. Sniečkus to Lithuania," "The June 1941 Uprising in Lithuania," "By Lake Vasagin," "The Trial Proceedings of Simas Kudirka," "From Antiquity to Today," "Stalin's Victims," "Hitler's Victims in Lithuania," "To the Publishers of the Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania — From 17 Lithuanian Intellectuals, August 4, 1975," "Lenin's Spark in Lithuania."
Both Terleckas and his daughter refused to sign the search report.
At that same time (August 23, 3:00 P.M.) a search was also begun at the apartment of Julius Sasnauskas in Vilnius, Garelio 15, apt. 15. The search was conducted by Chief Interrogator of Special Cases, Lieut. Col. Maslaukis, assigned by Chief Interrogator Major Pilelis. Immediately before the search, an unknown youth appeared, asking Julijus Sasnauskas' mother where "his school friend Julius" was. When the mother replied that Julius was in town on business, the stranger left and the Security agents immediately barged in.
The following items were confiscated during the search: excerpts from the autobiography of Antanas Suraučius (about the life of Lithuanians in Poland); the book Diaries by Edward Kuznetsov published in Russian in Paris; On Country and World by Andrei Sakharov in Russian, published in New York; Sakharov's letter to
Nobel Committee member in Russian; several pages of a manuscript by A. Lukauskaitė-Poškienė; the poem "Siberian Cemetery" by Kazys Bradūnas; the 1957 speech by A. Vienuolis-Žukauskas regarding the return of released political prisoners; a letter to the editor of Tiesa (Truth), (on the August, 1976, articles of Balkevičius); the magazine Aidai (Echoes) 1975, No. 2, published in New York; a petition signed by 31 llth-grade students to the Vilnius city education department asking that the llth-grade students expelled from the A. Vienuolis Middle School—V. Blgušas, A. Tučkus, A. Masilio-nis and J. Sasnauskas—be readmitted; 135 postcards with the Vytis symbol [Knight Errant—the national symbol of independent Lithuania —Tr. Note.] and the words Kas bus, kas nebus, bet Lietuva nepražus ("Come What May, Lithuania Will Endure"); five used typewriter ribbons; manuscripts of the papers "Dear Atheists," "We Are Following the Atheists' Example," and "The Russians Have Accused Us of Class War" and the article "Polish Schools—Tool for Lithuania's Russification."
A friend of Julius Sasnauskas who came in during the search was also searched, but nothing was found on him. As the search was coming to an end, Julius Sasnauskas returned home. The Security agents wanted to search him but he protested, saying that the search order only mentioned "apartment and basement", and he was neither apartment nor basement. Then, the Security agents drove him to headquarters, wrote out an order for a personal search and searched him. When Sasnauskas remarked that this order had not been authorized by the prosecutor, the interrogator replied that the law permits a search even without authorization from the prosecutor, who must merely be notified of it within twenty-four hours. And that is what they were going to do. Nothing was found on Sasnauskas during the personal search and he was released.
When V. Petkus and A. Masilionis were arrested at the Vilnius bus station, J. Volungevičius was also detained there. Because he would not submit to a search, he was taken to Security headquarters, searched there, and, when nothing was found, released. He was not presented with any documents authorizing the search. Volungevičius wrote a letter of protest on this matter to the Lithuanian State Prosecutor. When released, Volungevičius was followed persistently by two men. He turned for help to a militiaman, asking protection against the strange "protectors" who, for all he knew, intended to rob him. The militiaman approached the men on surveillance and demanded to see their papers, but, after seeing the documents, immediately withdrew, apologizing for interfering in something that did not concern him.
According to our information, a search was conducted in Riga at the apartment of the Latvian Calič. The search was begun at 6:00 P.M. "The Organizing Document of the Executive Committee of the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian National Movement" handwritten in Latvian by V. Kalninš was found. Kalninš was detained that same day at the Riga railroad station. When questioned, he stated that he had translated this document from Russian into Latvian at the request of V.(ictoras) Petkus, when the latter was recently visiting Riga. (Kalninš, a former Russian language instructor at the Riga University, was convicted to twelve years in prison for political activity. He spent all twelve years in Mordovian prison camps. He now resides in Riga). [In 1978, Kalninš emigrated and now lives in the West. — Trans. Note.]
That same day, in Estonia, Nikius Mart was also detained at the railroad station. He was released several hours later. It should be noted here, that in all these searches, including Riga, the pretext used was the case of B.(alys) Gajauskas.
Antanas Terleckas was held three days at the Vilnius Security headquarters. He was interrogated by Senior Interrogator Maj. Rimkus. Terleckas was taken to Gen. Vaigauskas, Vice-Chairman of the Security Committee. The Security police accused Terleckas of having, while in Riga a year ago, incited Latvians and Estonians to form a joint committee for the liberation of the Baltic countries. He was also accused of issuing Laisvės Šauklys (Herald of Freedom). Moreover, he was ordered to testify about the material found during the search. Terleckas refused to give any kind of testimony. The Security police, for its part, suggested to A. Terleckas that he would not be prosecuted if he promised to stop fighting against the Soviet government. Terleckas replied that he could not make such a promise since he has never fought against the Soviet system. He merely protested and fought against those who persecuted him.
First, he is persecuted by the Security police. As a result, he is unable to find work, although he holds two degrees from the Vilnius State University (in economics before his trial, and in history since returning from labor camp). Let the Security Police cease persecuting him and he will not ask for anything more. He likes to study the history of Lithuania and will gladly go dig among the archives. Unfortunately, this is unattainable. He could not even work as a janitor at the Opera Theater (during performances by foreign touring companies, he was not even allowed to set foot in the theater building), and lately he has been working as a loader at a film studio warehouse. The Security agents replied that they do not assign work, but stated they would not prevent him from working if he renounces in writing his fight against the Soviet government. Terleckas stated that he could only write once more what he has already written in his letter to Podgorny; that is, that he does not fight against the Soviet system. The Security agents finally agreed. For his part, Terleckas also included the statement that he refuses to give any kind of testimony regarding the material found during the search. Terleckas was then released.
The day after Terleckas' home was searched, his wife, daughter and mother-in-law were summoned to the Vilnius Security committee. They were questioned about individuals who visit their apartment, about Terleckas' relationship with Petkus, about who was present at the meeting with the Financial Times reporter and the secretary of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, about what they know of the materials found during the search, and especially about the typewriters which were found. The entire interrogation revealed that they do not know the individuals with whom Terleckas associates and cannot specify who visits him.
When Terleckas returned home, he was again summoned several times to the Security police "to close the case officially". He was again ordered to explain the material found during the search. When Terleckas refused to testify and stated he would no longer come to the Security headquarters, he was no longer harassed. But he was unable to find work anywhere as an historian. Currently he is working as a loader in a film studio storeroom.
After his apartment was searched, Julius Sasnauskas was summoned for several days to the Security police. He was interrogated by case officers. He was ordered to confess that he had typed various articles at the request of Terleckas and Petkus, and he was assured that they had already confessed to everything. Petkus was called a homosexual and was threatened with prosecution for this. He was also ordered to testify about the material found during the search. Sasnauskas explained that the search order specified the case of B(alys) Gajauskas whom he does not know and about whom he knows nothing, therefore, he cannot give any testimony in connection with the case of B.(alys) Gajauskas.
