Human Rights Monitoring Institute

Yesterday’s press conference held at the BNS Press Centre and organised by MEP Leonidas Donskis featured Dainius Pūras, Chair of the HRMI Board, Henrikas Mickevičius, Executive Director of HRMI, and Darius Kuolys, Director of the Civil Society Institute.

The conference speakers reviewed recent events that resounded on a national and international level. The recent LGBT march was marked as a victory of a sound mind against homophobia, one that was not belittled even by a number of MPs. Regrettably, Lithuania is facing more serious issues of human rights, the resolution of which will determine Lithuania’s image and reputation.

Leonidas Donskis expressed his concern regarding the story of the Chechen Gatajev family. “People sought political asylum in Finland – an EU Member State, to save themselves from persecution in another EU Member State – Lithuania, which is absolutely unacceptable and sends the worst possible message about us to human rights organisations”, said Donskis.

Henrikas Mickevičius informed that a case against Lithuania at the European Court for Human Rights is under preparation and that a claim for moral damages caused by illegal detention has already been submitted to the national court. “Now, all taxpayers will have to pay Gatajevs a monetary compensation for an illegal period of detention. It would be interesting to find out if anyone will be held responsible for this at the State Security Department or the Prosecution Service.”

Henrikas Mickevičius pointed out that if Finland grants Gatajevs political asylum, the image of Lithuania as a democratic, rule of law state that respects human rights will be seriously tarnished. “Will anyone take us seriously when we talk about human rights violations in, for instance, Kazachstan and elsewhere during our OSCE presidency in 2011?”, rhetorically asked Mickevičius.

Working methods of the State Security Department (SSD) also raise doubts in the case of Eglė Kusaitė, who has been accused of links with international terrorists. For half a year now, the girl has been held in detained in appalling conditions. “In this case, we are talking about a particularly sensitive young girl of poor health who suffers from cerebral palsy. We suspect that she had been engaged with for over two years, and her interrogations took place without a lawyer”, said Mickevičius.

Darius Kuolys reminded that the State Security Department has not denied public allegations of Eglė Kusaitė’s relatives, who claim that the girl was “taken care of” by SSD for two years: “The State Security Department provided her with an apartment to live in, a Quran to read and selected people to maintain relationships with.”

Henrikas Mickevičius also drew attention to the story of secret CIA detention facilities. According to him, Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius was too quick to announce that the dispute regarding the secret CIA detention centre that potentially existed in Lithuania is over during his last week’s visit to the US. “What dispute are we talking about here? Who is disputing what and against  whom?” – asked Henrikas Mickevičius. “In my opinion, there are not and cannot be any disputes. We are talking about serious crimes that were potentially committed, and an independent investigation by law enforcement institutions. A head of the political branch government is not in the position to publicly discuss “the end of a dispute”. In his view, such statement served as a message to the law enforcement institutions that it is not necessary to continue the search for the truth any further. “Has our Prime Minister ever heard of the principles of rule of law and separation of powers?”, asked Henrikas Mickevičius.

Dainius Pūras, Member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Board Member of the Global Initiative on Psychiatry and chair of the HRMI Board, stressed that the human rights situation in Lithuania is currently in regress. According to him, during the first decade of its independence, Lithuania showed determination to achieve significant improvement in this area; later, human rights stagnated and now are regressing.

“I thought that fighting for civil rights would become our greatest passion, because we did not have them for so many years. Regrettably, now they are being sacrificed. People are very sensitive when it comes to economic and social rights yet civil and political rights, such as the right to equality, are not protected. But an intolerant society becomes diseased itself – there are more cases of suicide and alcoholism. I believe that Lithuania will heal, but at the moment we are in setback”, Pūras is convinced.

Henrikas Mickevičius encouraged politicians to realise the importance of human rights: “Up till today, human rights do not receive sufficient political attention – they are almost absent in electoral programmes of political parties and the Government. The dominant view is that everything is determined by economy; however, it is important to defend human rights even from a pragmatic point of view. Will a businessman who is homosexual, who practices Islam, who is black or whose sense of dignity does allow him to pay a bribe invest in a country known for homophobia, racism, religious intolerance or corruption?”, rhetorically asked Mickevičius.

According to all participants of the conference, it is important that the country’s political elite pay attention to human rights. “Their silence is what baffles the most. Until the political elite takes care of its citizens, rises to defend their rights, our freedoms are under a great threat”, summarised Darius Kuolys.