Joint CPI/CYM letter of protest to the Lithuanian Embassy

13 June 2012

To:

Dalia Grybauskaitė, President of the Lithuanian Republic
Andrius Kubilius, Prime Minister of the Lithuanian Republic
Irena Degutienė, Speaker of the Seimas of the Lithuanian Republic

Re: The prosecution of Algirdas Paleckis
The Communist Party of Ireland and the Connolly Youth Movement strongly protest against the renewal of legal proceedings against Algirdas Paleckis, chairperson of the Socialist People’s Front and a member of the board of World Without Nazism.

After conducting a detailed investigation into the events of 13 January 1991 in Vilnius (the clashes around the television tower), Algirdas Paleckis stated in a radio interview that “it appears that in January 1991 our own people were shooting at their fellow-citizens.” We maintain that this statement has a substantial basis in the facts, in material evidence, and in eyewitness testimony.

     He has already been declared innocent at his first trial on 18 January 2012. Following an appeal by the state he is now facing the threat of two years’ imprisonment in accordance with paragraph 170 of part 2 of the Lithuanian Penal Code for the “denial of Soviet aggression against Lithuania.”

This case is a scandalous example of the violation of basic civil and democratic rights in Lithuania. We ask you, where is the freedom of speech so praised by the opponents of socialism? Where is the people’s right to express their opinions?

We condemn both this case and the unjust law under which it is being held, which contradicts article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

     To us and to all progressive sections of the Irish people Algirdas Paleckis has become a symbol of the struggle for historical truth in Europe against attempts to criminalise the heroic people who dared to challenge right-wing manipulation and propaganda.

Communist Party of Ireland
Connolly Youth Movement