Prisons in Lithuania: an alternative reality where state laws are inapplicable?

Last year, a long term Lithuanian drug user activist, Kestutis Butkus, in partnership with the Eurasian Harm Reduction Network (EHRN) and the NGO I Can Live, sued the government of Lithuania for non continuation of OST treatment as well as cruel behavior during the imprisonment.

Kestutis was sentenced to 40 days in prison on a drug possession charge in 2011, at which point he had been on OST for 15 years. Treatment was discontinued in detention and he started experiencing withdrawal syndrome. In his words, “Due to the discontinuation of my methadone treatment, I had a hard time falling asleep, suffered from persistent unbearable muscle pain, pain in the heart area and arrhythmia. I was concerned that withdrawal would affect the functioning of my heart, since in 2006 I had tricuspid valve surgery.” The prison staff not only declined requests from both Kestutis and his lawyer to provide OST, but demonstrated the prevailing attitude towards drug use, which is considered a moralfailing rather than a medical problem. “The doctor spent the time expressing her intolerant impression that as a drug user, I was extremely immoral,” Kestutis recalls.

The court ruled that because there is no OST provided in prison settings, no legal acts were violated. In making this ruling, the court essentially admitted that the laws of the country can be applied by state institutions selectively and in a discriminatory manner. At end of 2012 the court decision was appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania.

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