Lithuania receives a complaint from Moscow in the case of a convicted person on January 13: his life is in danger

Mel is currently serving a ten-year prison sentence for his role in the Soviet aggression in January 1991. In one of the tanks, a former man was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity during a bloody attack on the Television Tower.

He has been in captivity since March 2014, when he was detained at the border. The district court initially sentenced Mel to seven years in prison and he expected to be released this spring, but in late March the Court of Appeal extended the sentence to 10 years.

This month, the Lithuanian authorities received a letter from T. Moskalkova complaining about J. Melis’ poor health.

“As far as I know, he is being held in a cell with eight other people. I believe that his life is in real danger if he catches COVID-19 “, the letter to the Ombudsman of the Seimas, Augustinas Normantas, whose copy he received. 15 minutes.

Moskalkva called on the ombudsman to help Mel to enjoy “qualified medical care and an unhindered return to the territory of the Russian Federation when he serves his sentence.”

Responsible for the treatment: We have not received any complaint from J. Melis

Head of the Ombudsman’s Office of the Seimas Vytautas Valentinavičius 15 minutes confirmed that the institution had received a request from the Russian Ombudsman for mediation to guarantee the rights of a Russian citizen to medical care.

He was informed that J.Melis herself had not lodged a complaint and that Lithuanian law guaranteed the rights of convicts to personal health care services.

“In response, we reported that the Office of the Ombudsman of the Seimas had not received any complaints from applicants related to specific actions or omissions of officials and the circumstances specified in the note from the Russian Embassy in Vilnius and its annexes.” said V. Valentinavičius.

15 minutes After contacting the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he confirmed that he had received a letter from T. Moskalkova at the Russian Embassy in Vilnius about the situation of J. Melis, addressed to the Office of the Ombudsman of the Seimas, and sent this letter to the addressee.

Commissioner – Kremlin building

Ms. Moskalkova, 65, who wrote the letter, is seen as the Kremlin’s statutory commissioner rather than an independent human rights commissioner.

She was appointed to this position in 2016. Even then, it was criticized that the duties did not lie with the independent human rights defender, but with the former police general, a major with many ties to the Interior Ministry.

Criticizing the choice of the Russian State Duma, human rights defenders emphasized that Ms Moskalkova was a member of the Kremlin’s friend Russia Right party, and called for punishment for the “attacks on morality” in 2012 after the famous Pussy Riot protest.

Ms Moskalkova, who was already running for office in parliament, rebuked the West for allegedly unjustifiably criticizing human rights violations in Russia.

“Western and American institutions use human rights issues as a tool for blackmail, intimidation, threats and pressure.” The Human Rights Commissioner has enough ways to counter all of this, “Moskalkova said.

In 2016, even radical politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky did not support his candidacy. “He is a great person, but his work in the Soviet police and in the administration of Boris Yeltsin does not allow me to believe that he can and wants to defend human rights,” Zhirinovsky said during the debate in the Duma.

In a letter to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, T. Moskalkova, last week, the conditions of imprisonment of the Russian opposition Alexei Navaln meet international standards and that he is provided with adequate medical assistance.

Navaln, who was treated in Germany last August after trying to poison him but returned to Russia where he was imprisoned, went on a hunger strike on March 31, demanding adequate treatment for back pain and numbness in his legs and arms.

Last week, Navaln stopped starving, thanked the thousands of protesters who took to the streets for it and added that he had already been seen by a “civil council.”

“Respond strategically”

Laurynas Jonavičius, Professor at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science (VU TSPMI), Vilnius University 15 minutes Moskalkova said that appeal should be seen in the context of the current deterioration in Russian-Western relations.

“Now they will take everything out and scratch it; they will try to show how bad you are and how you ruin the relationship. I think there will be a lot of memories, things manufactured and invented now,” said L. Jonavičius.

In late 2020, Russia’s Investigative Committee brought charges against three Lithuanian judges for imposing allegedly illegal sentences on Russian citizens.

“The situation is completely contextual,” noted L. Jonavičius. – Just as we have questions about the damage of the occupation, for Russia, the case of January 13 is always one in which we can talk about alleged persecutions and things like that. The answer is strategic. “

In late 2020, Russia’s Investigative Committee brought charges against the three Lithuanian judges who examined the case on January 13 for the alleged illegal sentencing of Russian citizens.

The Lithuanian government and the institutions of the European Union have called for this undue pressure and persecution.

“It is necessary to understand that Moscow has a Lithuanian record and uses it tactically and strategically, looking at when it is most convenient and what message to formulate. In my opinion, this is a normal practice, especially in Russia, but Lithuania also has its own archives and takes them out if necessary ”, considered L. Jonavičius.

The Kremlin is hurt by the case

Nerijus Maliukevičius, another professor at VU TSPMI, who examines the details of the Russian information attacks, considers T. Moskalkova’s letter to be a Russian classic “whataboutizmoExample.

“Russia is massively violating human rights, pushing activists to prison. Everyone talks about Navalna, but the scale is incredible, it is not even possible to trace what was planted and how many days it gave.

And Moscow traditionally tries to draw attention to the human rights situation in the West, in this case Lithuania. Furthermore, speaking about human rights and the rights of Russian speakers in the Baltic countries has a long tradition, ”said N. Malukevičius.

He said he believed the Kremlin was “hurt” by the January 13 case because it clashed with Russian public stories about the country’s history in recent years.

“It is said that the USSR was great, that its collapse was against a conspiracy and a geopolitical catastrophe. And the case of January 13 is an article that bothers Putin and to which there has been and will continue to be a response.

Of all the Eastern European countries, Lithuania was the only one to take legal action regarding the actions of the Soviet army and the entire regime in 1990-1991. As a result, the case damages the Kremlin’s historical narrative, “said N. Malukevičius.