A Lithuanian man who kidnapped his nine-month-old daughter and took her to Russia will stand trial for illegal border crossing in Kaliningrad, a court has said.
Algirdas Švanys, 37, took his daughter and crossed the Russian border from Lithuania using his inflatable boat. He took food, warm clothes and documents with the intention of taking the child away from her mother, who has the custody of the child.
According to the court’s statement, his actions are deemed an illegal crossing of the Russian state border without a mandatory permit. The report states that Švanys is a Russian citizen.
The 15min.lt new website was the first to report on Wednesday that Švanys’ case had reached a court in the Russian region of Kaliningrad.
The girl was taken to Russia on August 27. On that day, her mother contacted the police and reported that Švanys had failed to return the child at the agreed time. It was later found that the man had crossed the River Skirvytė in Lithuania’s Šilutė District which marks the Lithuanian-Russian border.
The child was returned to her mother on September 5 when she went to Kaliningrad. The two returned to Lithuania the same day.
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