Danguolė Rasalaitė

Danguolė's mother had left her alone in Lithuania after she moved to the United States with a man she had met when the girl was 14, and her father was serving a life sentence. Her mother had renounced all contact and responsibility in the care for her, in a letter to the municipality. Later she told her grandmother she had been contacted by a man who said he could arrange work for her. The man gave her a false passport and put her on a flight from Lithuania. She came to Sweden with a man who pretended to be her boyfriend. On November 17, 1999, Danguolė arrived in Kristianstad. While there she was driven to Arlöv and confined in an apartment. He told her she owed him 20,000 Swedish kronor for her passport and the transportation from Lithuania to Sweden. She soon understood she would be working as a prostitute.

After about a month of prostitution and in an unguarded moment, Rasalaitė managed to escape from the apartment through a window. Reportedly she did not dare to contact the police and therefore fled to Malmö where she met a man from Macedonia who offered her accommodation. It has later emerged that during the evening of January 6, 2000, she was raped by both the Macedonian man and his friends. At this time she lived together in an apartment with a 17-year-old girl, called Melita, who became close friends with Rasalaitė. It is Melita who has told a lot about what happened in the last months of Rasalaitė's life.

On January 7, 2000, Rasalaitė jumped from a motorway bridge in Malmö, intending to commit suicide. She was taken to hospital but died on January 10, as a result of her injuries. Rasalaitė never regained consciousness during her time in the hospital.[1]

Rasalaitė had no passport nor other identification on her, however the police found two telephone numbers written on a piece of paper which she had in one of her pockets. With the help of this, the Malmö police tracked down the apartment in Arlöv where she had been confined. Danguolė's belongings and three farewell letters to her friends in Lithuania were found in the apartment. She had been betrayed by a man - "the Russian" - who however never could be identified and no punishment has followed the case either. Her case stirred much debate on human trafficking. On January 23, 2006, Queen Silvia spoke against violence against women and told about Rasalaitė's life and death.

On April 6, the police questioned the person who kept Danguolė in the apartment in Arlöv. Giedrius, the so-called "Russian", who is described in a radio documentary as being about 30 years old, about 6'5" (195 cm), muscular and from Lithuania. He would have worked on a farm south of Malmö. When the police arrived at the scene, the man had already left the country. Giedrius left Sweden for Lithuania on April 13. On May 4, Giedrius was identified with certainty. On May 31, Giedrius was reasonably suspected of pimping.[2]

Lukas Moodysson directed the movie Lilya 4-ever which is based on the fate of Danguolė Rasalaitė.[3]

• ”Här dog Lilja - i verkligheten” Aftonbladet 26 August 2002