On 19th April 2021, a hearing was conducted at the Vilnius District Court.
Due to the COVID19 pandemic no participants or observers were permitted, other than the designated attorneys representing the litigants.
Over 160 plaintiffs, descendents of from the Vilna Gaon have filed a class action suit against Turto bankas, the lead developer in the Vilnius Congress Center. The proposed conference center has been slated to be built on a cemetery in which lie over 50 thousand Jews are buried. The deceased include thousands of Torah luminaries including the Chaya Odom and family of the Viilna Gaon.
At the court hearing, Turto bankas, a state owned bank asserted that it did not disagree with the fact that the Sports Palace, lies at the center of the cemetery. It did contend however that "there are no graves under or near the Sports Palace."
Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that evidence that had been submitted to the court clearly showed in historical documents that skeletal remains lay buried and encrusted within the structure of the Sports Palace. See VIDEO
A decision as to whether the court will rule that the conference center should be shelved has been set for 10 May 2021.
Court filings in new procedures, from human rights and Jewish organizations may follow.