May 16-18, 1983, in the Supreme Court at Vilnius, the trial of (Mrs.) Jadvyga Bieliauskienė (arrested November 29) took place.
As is usual, only her nearest relatives could get into the courtroom: her sister, her grown son and her husband. In front of the Supreme Court, and on Lenino prospektas, there was an atmosphere of seige: Militia stood at every trolley bus stop, and more of them were on the trolley buses, so that not a single person would think of making a move toward the court house.
Those arriving gathered at the Gates of Dawn (Trans. Note — A venerable Marian Shrine), and prayed throughout every day. The accused, Jadvyga Bieliauskienė, even though she had languished for many months in the KGB cellars, was not the least bit morally broken: She was erect, smiling, firm and outspoken. At the trial, (Mrs.) Bieliauskienė refused the services of an attorney.
The prosecutor accused her of anti-Soviet activities: organizing children in church, and duplication and dissemination of anti-Soviet literature.
One witness, the principal of Garliava Middle School, spoke more about the former Assistant Pastor of Garliava, Father Vaclovas Stakė-nas (a member of the Catholic Committee for the Defense of Believers' Rights), accusing him of anti-Soviet activity and of organizing young people inside and outside of church.
Testifying against (Mrs.) Bieliauskienė were two women and one schoolchild, Antanas, whom the schoolchildren had long before suspected of being questionable. When, during the trial, as though fearing to look at (Mrs.) Bieliauskienė, he rattled off everything according to the standard form dictated by the KGB agents, the court turned to Jadvyga, asking, "What do you have to say to that?"
The accused smiled and said, "Little Antanas is a clever boy, only this time, he got tangled up!"
All other schoolchildren testified facing the accused, and looking her in the eye. They all said they knew her as a good, religious believing woman, but that they knew nothing about any of her activities.
The "anti-Soviet literature" which the KGB found at Jadvyga Bieliauskienė's place was Šapoka's Lietuvos istorija ( History of Lithuania) and poems by Bernardas Brazdžionis.
(Mrs.) Bieliauskienė made a bold and logical defense speech, and final speech. The court sentenced Jadvyga Bieliauskienė to four years of strict regime camp and three years of exile.
