CHICAGO (AP) – An ex-Lithuanian parliamentarian continues her battle against extradition to Lithuania to face charges tied to her claims a clan of influential pedophiles exists in Lithuania whose victims included her 4-year-old niece.
A judge will consider 47-year-old Nergina Venckiene’s request to stay extradition while she finishes the process of asking for political asylum that she began after fleeing to the U.S. in 2013.
Prosecutors say an April State Department decision approving her extradition overrides any court ruling, so she can no longer avoid being extradited.
Before her February arrest, Venckiene worked as a suburban Chicago florist. She says Lithuanian charges that she disobeyed court orders to relinquish custody of her niece are politically motivated.
Her U.S. district judge Thursday, Virginia Kendall, once worked at a prosecutor focusing on child-abuse cases.
