CHICAGO (AP) - Federal prosecutors say a judge can’t stay the extradition of an ex-Lithuanian judge and parliamentarian to face charges stemming from her public claims that there’s a ring of influential pedophiles in Lithuania.
A government filing Friday says Magistrate Judge Daniel Martin has no authority to halt Neringa Venckiene’s (VEHN’-kee-ehn-ays) extradition after the State Department approved it, and that she’ll have opportunities to prove her innocence in Lithuania. She asked for the stay on Wednesday.
The 47-year-old recently told The Associated Press from a Chicago jail that she fled Lithuania in 2013 over fears she’ll be killed by those angered by her claims. She faces slander and other charges in the European country. She worked as a suburban Chicago florist before her February arrest.
Martin will consider the motion at a May 1 hearing.
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