Neringa Venckienė
Lithuanian politician / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Neringa Venckienė (born 21 May 1971 in Kaunas) is a former Lithuanian judge and member of the Seimas of Lithuania.
Neringa Venckienė | |
---|---|
Member of the 11th Seimas of Lithuania | |
In office 16 November 2012 – 19 June 2014 (Impeached) | |
Prime Minister | Algirdas Butkevicius |
Succeeded by | Gintaras Aleknonis (refused to be sworn in) |
Succeeded by | Stasys Brundza |
Personal details | |
Born | (1971-05-21) 21 May 1971 (age 52) Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union |
Political party | Way of Courage |
Spouse | Aidas Venckus (until 2014) |
Alma mater | Vilnius University |
Profession | Judge |
In 2008–2009, Venckienė's brother Drąsius Kedys accused three men of sexually molesting his four-year old daughter. One of the men and the girl's aunt were murdered in October 2009. Kedys became the prime suspect but he was found dead in June 2010. The girl's custody was initially awarded to Venckienė. The courts later awarded the custody to the girl's mother. These court ruling caused a popular uproar in Lithuania and members of the public started a vigil guarding the house where the girl lived so that the police could not take her away. Armed riot police forcibly took away the girl on 17 May 2012. Few days later, charges were brought against Venckienė who resigned from her job as a judge. She became leader of the new The Way of Courage political party and was elected to the Seimas in the October 2012 elections. In April 2013, the Seimas voted to remove Venckienė's legal immunity and she fled to the United States seeking political asylum. In June 2014, Venckienė was impeached and her mandate was removed. In November 2019, she was extradited back to Lithuania, where she was released on bail and is tried for relative minor offenses. She was found guilty in 2021 and sentenced to 21 months in prison but released due to time already served.