President’s office declines comment on Skvernelis ECHR plans

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda’s office has declined to comment on Seimas member Saulius Skvernelis’s plans to take the president’s remarks about his corruption case to the European Court of Human Rights, LRT reported.

“The president’s office does not comment on the defence strategies of politicians accused of corruption,” Nausėda’s representatives told ELTA.

In an interview with Delfi, Skvernelis, a former leader of the Democratic Union For Lithuania, said he intended to apply to the Strasbourg-based court over public statements by senior politicians concerning his case.

“I am not saying that this is a political case. It is a case that has acquired political aspects,” Skvernelis said. He added that those aspects would be examined and that his team was preparing an application to the European Court of Human Rights.

Skvernelis said Nausėda’s public statements could be viewed as exerting pressure on the public and law enforcement. He referred to the president’s comments about searches and information provided to him by officials, as well as Nausėda’s statement that courage and civic-mindedness were needed to bring charges against someone like Skvernelis.

“To bring charges against any person, you need not courage and civic-mindedness, but evidence,” Skvernelis said.

He also criticised Nausėda’s statement that he had been shown operational intelligence. Skvernelis said that no head of state, speaker of the Seimas or prime minister had the right to access criminal intelligence or operational information, even in an aggregated form.

Skvernelis said his relationship with the president had been excellent before the case.

Previous ruling over officials’ statements

ELTA noted that heads of state have received various types of law enforcement information at different times. More than two decades ago, then-President Valdas Adamkus was given information gathered by officials about some particularly brutal crimes committed by the “Tulips” criminal group in Panevėžys. At the time, the investigation was still under way and only some of the gang’s initial crimes had been uncovered.

Statements by senior state officials have also led to cases before international courts. In March 2002, the European Court of Human Rights found that the criminal proceedings against former defence minister Audrius Butkevičius had violated the presumption of innocence and his right to defend himself before an impartial tribunal.

The court said that remarks by then-Seimas speaker Vytautas Landsbergis, in which he said he had no doubt that Butkevičius had taken a bribe and promised criminal services in exchange for money, encouraged the public to believe that Butkevičius was guilty and created a prejudgment for the competent judicial authority.

The court awarded Butkevičius 5,700 euros from the Lithuanian state for non-pecuniary damage and a further 2,900 euros for legal costs and expenses. It did not overturn his conviction, despite his request for full rehabilitation.