text: SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
  
      This Act may be cited as the ``Give Judge Venckiene Her Day in 
  Court Act''.
  
  SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
  
      The Congress finds the following:
              (1) Judge Neringa Venckiene fled to the United States in 
          2013 and requested political asylum after a 5-year battle in 
          Lithuania to secure justice for her 4-year-old niece, Deimante 
          Kedyte, who reported that she was being sexually molested by 
          Lithuanian government officials while in her mother's care.
              (2) Deimante Kedyte's claims of sexual molestation were 
          evaluated by court-ordered psychologists and psychiatrists and 
          deemed to be credible.
              (3) Deimante Kedyte accused of sexual molestation an 
          assistant to the Speaker of the Parliament and a sitting judge, 
          both associates of her mother.
              (4) Judge Venckiene and Deimante Kedyte's father petitioned 
          law enforcement and the courts for full investigation of 
          Deimante's claims against the accused individuals, but believed 
          the ensuing investigation to be negligent.
              (5) Lithuania's parliament (Legal and Judiciary Committees) 
          issued a report in 2010 that deemed the investigation into 
          Deimante Kedyte's sexual molestation accusations to be 
          negligent and found that the negligence had compromised the 
          case against the public officials.
              (6) After Deimante Kedyte's father went missing in 2009, 
          Judge Venckiene was awarded guardianship of Deimante.
              (7) Deimante Kedyte's mother was never indicted for 
          complicity in the sexual molestation despite a Vilnius District 
          Court Ruling in October 2009 that there was enough evidence to 
          indict her.
              (8) In December 2011, Judge Venckiene was ordered to give 
          Deimante Kedyte, then 7 years old, back to her mother, but 
          Deimante refused to return to her mother, indicating fear of 
          sexual molestation.
              (9) Hundreds of Lithuanians kept vigil outside Judge 
          Venckiene's house to prevent the Lithuanian Government from 
          removing Deimante Kedyte.
              (10) In May 2012, the Lithuanian Government sent more than 
          200 police officers to take Deimante Kedyte from Judge 
          Venckiene by force.
              (11) Deimante Kedyte clung to Judge Venckiene, was ripped 
          from her, was carried away shrieking, and has completely 
          disappeared from public view for the last 6 years.
              (12) The Lithuanian Government's action resulted in 
          protests against the Lithuanian Government in Lithuania and at 
          numerous Lithuanian embassies around the world, as well as in 
          the United States when the Lithuanian President attended the 
          NATO summit in Chicago in May 2012.
              (13) Judge Venckiene published a book entitled ``Way of 
          Courage'' in 2012 about Deimante Kedyte's ordeal and 
          Lithuania's failure to properly investigate and prosecute the 
          case against the government officials.
              (14) ``Way of Courage'' became the name of a new, anti-
          corruption, anti-pedophilia political party in Lithuania, which 
          elected Judge Venckiene to Lithuania's parliament in 2012.
              (15) Judge Venckiene sought political asylum in the United 
          States in 2013 after she received threats and experienced what 
          she believed was an attempt on her life following a political 
          rally, and after the Lithuanian Government moved to lift Judge 
          Venckiene's parliamentary immunity.
              (16) The Lithuanian Government has systematically 
          prosecuted for ``false statements'' and other crimes the 
          journalists, a medical professional, Deimante Kedyte's 
          grandparents, Judge Venckiene's neighbor, people who attended 
          rallies on her behalf, and many others who came forward with 
          evidence or support of Deimante Kedyte's claims of sexual 
          molestation or who opposed the violent removal of Deimante from 
          Judge Venckiene.
              (17) Lithuania has leveled more than 35 charges against 
          Judge Venckiene, including charges for filing petitions on 
          behalf of Deimante Kedyte with Lithuania's courts and the 
          Child's Rights Ombudsman, making statements critical of the 
          investigation to journalists, describing in her book the sexual 
          molestation case against and naming the public officials, 
          involvement in ``unauthorized protests'', ``humiliating the 
          court'', desecrating the national anthem, conducting her own 
          investigation into the case, failing to turn Deimante over to 
          the accused mother, bruising an officer, and kicking at 
          Deimante's mother when the mother tried to remove Deimante.
              (18) The extradition treaty signed by the United States and 
          the Republic of Lithuania on October 23, 2001, does not permit 
          for Judge Venckiene to offer counter-evidence in United States 
          court to any of Lithuania's charges against her or to make the 
          case for political motivation.
              (19) A United States Magistrate Judge in April 2018 
          approved extradition for charges that Judge Venckiene hindered 
          the activities of a bailiff, failed to comply with a court's 
          decision not associated with a penalty, caused physical pain, 
          and resisted against a civil servant or a person performing the 
          functions of public administration--all charges related to 
          Deimante Kedyte being taken from Judge Venckiene's home and 
          returned to the accused mother.
              (20) Former political prisoners, as well as current and 
          former government officials in Lithuania have written to the 
          United States Government, warning that the Lithuanian 
          Government's charges against Judge Venckiene are politically 
          motivated.
              (21) The Chairman of the Supreme Court of Lithuania 
          Gintaras Kryzevicius has been reported as publicly saying that 
          Judge Venckiene ``is an abscess in the legal system and an 
          abscess in the political system'' and ``the trouble of the 
          whole state''.
              (22) Sweden, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Denmark, Malta, 
          Ukraine, and Russia have all refused to extradite individuals 
          to Lithuania.
              (23) Judge Venckiene can present evidence concerning the 
          political motivation of Lithuania's charges against her before 
          an immigration judge if she is excluded from the extradition 
          treaty and allowed to proceed with her political asylum case, 
          filed in 2013 and scheduled to be heard in July 2019.
  
  SEC. 3. EXCLUSION FROM EXTRADITION TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF 
                AMERICA AND THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA.
  
      (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, Judge 
  Neringa Venckiene shall be excluded from extradition under the 
  Extradition Treaty Between the Government of the United States of 
  America and the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, signed at 
  Vilnius on October 23, 2001, and entered into force on March 31, 2003 
  (as amended by the Protocol on the Application of the Agreement on 
  Extradition between the Unites States of America and the European Union 
  to the Extradition Treaty between the Government of the United States 
  of America and the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, signed at 
  Brussels on June 15, 2005, and entered into force on February 1, 2010), 
  and excluded from all other laws allowing for her extradition to 
  Lithuania.
      (b) Political Asylum.--Judge Neringa Venckiene shall be permitted 
  to remain in the United States until a final order is issued with 
  respect to her pending application for asylum.
      (c) Free Movement.--Judge Neringa Venckiene shall not be held in 
  Federal or State prison or detention for any immigration-related or 
  extradition-related offense and shall be allowed free movement and 
  continued work permission until a final order is issued with respect to 
  her pending application for asylum.
target: Provides for the relief of Judge Neringa Venckiene, who the Government of Lithuania seeks on charges related to her pursuit of justice against Lithuanian public officials accused of sexually molesting her young niece.
feat_title: Give Judge Venckiene Her Day in Court Act