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According to the Lithuanian Ministry of Justice, it would be sufficient for the UAE to satisfy the girl’s request for clemency to be transferred, or if Lithuania and the UAE conclude an agreement on the transfer of the convicts, but so far these negotiations they are stagnant.
However, hope has arisen and it is expected that after the end of Ramadan, an important celebration for Muslims, the UAE will fulfill E. Sedleckaitė’s request for grace. Ramadan begins on April 13. and ends on May 12.
Sentenced to live in prison
As portal 15 minutes said Emilia’s mother, Simona Sedleckait dijo, 2010 she went to live in England with her children. He worked there, he wanted to ensure better living conditions for the children. Five years later, in 2015, Simona decided to return to Lithuania and wanted to bring her daughter Emilia together. However, he decided not to return to his homeland with his mother and stayed abroad for a time.
After graduating from university, Emilija became a sports coach and athlete. The rest of England planned to look for work and in 2016 he went to the UAE with friends, planning to live and work there for several months.
After spending time in the UAE and preparing to travel to Lithuania, according to S. Sedleckaitė, Emilia’s mother, the girl was screwed. Before the trip home, Emilia stayed at the hotel. One of Emilia’s acquaintances left drugs in the safe in her room. Emilia was soon arrested and charged with possession of drugs for the purpose of distribution.
Emilia was tried three times in the United Arab Emirates. The first court fined the girl and sentenced him to a year and a half, the second sentenced him to deportation, but the third sentenced the girl to life imprisonment. Emilia was 21 years old at the time of the third trial and that age is already considered an adult in the United Arab Emirates.
S. Sedleckaitė wrote several clemency requests in the UAE, but Emilia was not allowed to return to Lithuania. At that time, Lithuania did not yet have its own embassy in the UAE, so S. Sedleckaitė was told that state officials should help resolve the situation in Emilia.
2020 The Lithuanian embassy was inaugurated in the UAE in March, but Emilia is still in prison in Abu Dhabi.
Lithuania and the United Arab Emirates do not have a transfer agreement
The portal tv3.lt could not contact the Lithuanian ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Edmin Bagdon. Upon request to the embassy by email. Reporters were informed by email that the ambassador had left the UAE, and the adviser to Minister Arvydas Naujokaitis made the comment about E. Sedleckaitė.
Currently, the embassy has no major news about Emilija Sedleckaitė, a citizen of the Republic of Lithuania, who is serving a prison sentence in one of Abu Dhabi’s women’s detention centers according to a local court decision that has come into effect. .
We can confirm that the diplomats of the embassy in the United Arab Emirates are in constant contact with the imprisoned citizen and provide assistance to the people who carry out the punishment provided for in the Consular Statute of the Republic of Lithuania.
At the same time, there is a connection with Emilia’s relatives. The embassy also contacts the UAE authorities on issues related to the citizen’s situation, ”the embassy commented on tv3.lt.
According to A. Naujokaitis, the resolution of the issue of the deportation of E. Sedleckaitė to Lithuania is hampered by the fact that Lithuania and the United Arab Emirates still do not have an agreement on the transfer of the convicted persons.
“A draft of said agreement was transmitted through diplomatic channels to the United Arab Emirates in 2018. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs only in 2020. has mediated several times in sending the proposals of the Ministry of Justice responsible for the drafting of this agreement to organize negotiations in the UAE (the latest proposal is to hold the negotiations in March 2021 or at any time convenient for the UAE by video conference), but no responses have been received so far, ”in the letter.
According to the embassy, one of the possibilities that will help E. Sedleckaitė to return to Lithuania would be the decision of the UAE institutions to satisfy the request for clemency. As previously reported in the media, S. Sadleckaitė has already written several clemency requests, but has not received a response.
The Ministry of Justice is negotiating the contract
The Ministry of Justice informs tv3.lt that the issue of the clemency request is currently being examined and resolved in the United Arab Emirates. Justice Minister Evelina Dobrovolska says that if the request were granted, E. Sedleckaitė could return to Lithuania and would not have to serve the sentence imposed by the United Arab Emirates.
“According to the Ministry and according to information from the Lithuanian Embassy in the United Arab Emirates, before the start of the great celebration of Ramadan, which is important for the entire Muslim world (as of April 13), decisions are made on pardons “.
The UAE did not join the 1983 European Conventions on the transfer of sentenced persons. The Ministry of Justice has started negotiations with the United Arab Emirates on an agreement on the transfer of convicts.
“Unfortunately, the negotiations are not going well, the UAE side is not cooperating in the drafting of the agreement. The Ministry of Justice has already approached the UAE on several occasions through the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. , proposing to conduct negotiations or conduct negotiations by videoconference. We last requested on March 2, 2021, we have not yet received a response. Therefore, in the absence of a legal basis, the UAE does not agree to transfer a person for serve a sentence, ”says E. Dobrovolska.
As stated in the certificate prepared by the Ministry of Justice regarding E. Sedleckaitė, “there is an opportunity to conclude to this Okay, but it will probably take time. It would also be difficult to agree on content that is acceptable to all, given the large legal and cultural differences between countries. “
2020 August 20 Former Justice Minister Elvinas Jankevičius addressed the Minister of Justice of the United Arab Emirates through the Lithuanian Embassy in the United Arab Emirates and asked for help to resolve the situation and help E. Sedleckait to return to Lithuania . Her mother’s request to transfer the girl to Lithuania has been expressed by her mother.
The Ministry of Justice reports that no official response to E. Jankevičius’ appeal has been received.
“Several contacts were made with the person from the UAE Ministry of Justice responsible for international cooperation through various channels. Response on November 23. Received by an attache from the Ministry of Justice in Brussels. He states that it is not possible according to the UAE national law to transfer a person to another country for the purpose of serving a custodial sentence without an international agreement and therefore proposes to accelerate negotiations on a bilateral agreement, ”the Justice Ministry said in a statement. .
He also approached the European Commission
2020 August 24 E. Jankevičius addressed the European Commissioner. The Minister asked if the Commission could take any action to address the situation. Last year on October 15. A response was received that the Commission had no such options and that a bilateral agreement was the best solution. It has been suggested that, in the absence of such a solution, a solution should be sought through diplomatic channels.
2020 September 30, the then Minister of Justice wrote to the ambassador of the European Union (EU) in the United Arab Emirates. He was also asked to help solve E. Sedleckaitė’s question.
“On October 19, the response received, which is essentially analogous to the response of the European Commission that it is not in a position to help, refers essentially to the response of the European Commissioner for Justice,” says the statement from the Ministry of Justice.
Last October, the EU Council of Justice Ministers raised the issue of the return of EU citizens from third countries to their country of origin to serve a custodial sentence. The aim of the initiative is to reach an agreement between the EU and third countries on the return of the sentenced.
This matter has been referred to the EU Council Expert Working Group. Their meeting took place in 2020. December 17
“Following the expert discussions, the Presidency summarized that the EU action to encourage third countries to join the Council of Europe conventions are needed, the exchange of good practices is a good tool, but has not been supported by the majority for a broader action of the EU ”, said the Ministry of Justice.
Next steps of the Ministry of Justice
2020 October 20 The Lithuanian Council of Muftiatas of Muslim Religious Communities also appealed to the President of the United Arab Emirates and the Abu Dhabi heir to the throne to transfer E. Sedleckaitė to serve the remaining sentence in Lithuania.
In October last year, Eurojust started a case with the UAE to solve the problem. The UAE soon responded that the country was in contact with the Lithuanian attaché in Brussels and that a bilateral agreement was needed. In November, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry was asked to send the UAE’s request to speed up negotiations on the deal, and it was proposed to hold negotiations in early March this year, but no response was received. In early March, the UAE Ministry of Justice offered to hold the talks on June 22-25 or at another time acceptable to the UAE, and no response was received.
2020 In November, a legal services contract was signed with the GLIMSTEDT law firm. According to the Ministry of Justice, the firm is between the Ministry of Justice and UAE lawyers who have prepared a request for clemency for a fee. This contract expired in February of this year.
Following the advice of the UAE lawyers in 2020 December 10 The Minister of Justice sent an appeal to the UAE Attorney General regarding the release of Mr. Sedleckaitė from prison. This petition was attached to the request for clemency filed in 2020. December 11
The UAE has also not responded to this request yet, nor is there a decision on the clemency request. If the clemency request is granted, the Ministry of Justice states that UAE lawyers will have to pay a € 2,500 “success fee” through GLIMSTEDT.
2020 December 29 The Vatican Secretary of State informed the Ministry of Justice that he had “asked the UAE authorities for a humanitarian decision on the transfer of Emilia Sedleckaitė to Lithuania for the remainder of her sentence.”
E. Sadleckaitė was sentenced to life imprisonment for disposing of drugs in order to distribute them. After committing the same crime in Lithuania, the maximum prison sentence is 15 years.
The Ministry of Justice is aware of a total of two cases in which Lithuanians have been sentenced to life imprisonment abroad, the second case in Indonesia.
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