Human Rights Monitoring Institute

Uncomfortably close, says the HRMI, but admits that Lithuania is not a police state yet. However, on “Question of the Day’’ Programme on the News Radio, the Director of the HRMI expressed deep concern with the violations of the right to privacy in Lithuania.  
 
“Our cultural environment is inadmissibly tolerant to the intrusions into other people’s private life. People are not aware of this right and its contents, therefore, they disclose their personal information such as ID number, date of birth or marital status whenever required,“ said Henrikas Mickevičius, the HRMI Executive Director, on the programme. "This puts them at a risk, especially since Lithuania has adopted a highly centralised data collection system."

“The current situation stems from the series of scandals concerning the right to privacy: the  sensational trial of A.Butkevičius, an ex-parliamentarian, which involved public disclosure of telephone reports, and the impeachment of President R.Paksas that pushed the limits of intrusion into private life even further with the publication of the contents of his telephone conversations."
"This may undermine democratic development in Lithuania," Mickevičius added. "There is a thin line between the control of private lives in order to ensure democracy and the destruction of this democracy."
He also cleared up the recent misunderstanding concerning relationship between human rights and the fight against corruption. “The protection of human rights and the fight against corruption do not contradict each other. The recent practice of sensational “witch-hunts” does not contribute to an effective struggle against corruption. The only result achieved by this method is that the rest of the corrupted politicians will be more careful now,” said H.Mickevičius.
The human rights defender stated that the law on surveillance activities should be specified, since it regulates grave intrusions into private life. He also emphasised the necessity to follow the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights.