The minister defends himself without giving order to persecute the public – Respublika.lt

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Minister of the Interior Agnė Bilotaitė. Photo of Elta

The investigation into the minister indicates that the policemen, in an attempt to issue warnings, simply persecuted some of the coordinators of the march: they went to their homes, intimidating their families, they drove to workplaces, they looked for their employers; He called the police stations, demanded personal documents and signatures. In the opinion of the fourteen members of the Seimas who prepared questions for the Minister, this is reminiscent of the anti-democratic actions of the Belarusian police with the Belarusian rallies.

Given this, the members of the Seimas asked Minister A.? It was also asked whether police officers sometimes issued warnings to the public on instructions that were not from the Minister himself.

Responding to the questions, the Minister assured that such warnings were in the order of the police for many years, and did not see any violation in the actions of the police. The Minister claimed that the Vilnius Police Chief Commissariat had given instructions to the police. “The institution of the Vilnius Police Chief Commissariat, which is responsible for the stage of the march in the city of Vilnius, approached other police institutions with a request to issue warnings to people living in the territories under their supervision. The police issued warnings for the sole purpose of ensuring public order, traffic and public safety. The police, warning the organizers, inform them of the foreseeable threats, the planned measures and the possible consequences. The warnings issued by the police cannot be considered illegal, since they were carried out in accordance with the law, ”said the minister.

According to her, this is not harassment or intimidation of public figures. “I do not see any police misconduct or abuse of power. The police did not persecute the organizers or the participants of the march, they only reacted to public information about possible riots. The desire of a part of society to defend their opinion about Important issues in the life of the State cannot violate the rights of other members of society and, even more, represent a threat to security or even life, “said A.Bilotaitė.

At the same time, the Minister had to admit that such warnings were excessive, as there were no violations during the march. It is true that A. Bilotait seems to think that this is the merit of the police. “It can be confirmed that the police have no data that the organizers have committed violations of the law. We can only rejoice that there were no disturbances, no violations of the law were prevented. The preparation and work of the police during the event contributed a lot to this, ”said the minister.

He also had to admit to public accusations that not all the people who organized LGBT campaigns on the same day received the same attention as the participants who came to defend traditional values. The organizer of the contrary actions was also warned by the police. Not all organizers of the march or opposition actions managed to issue warnings in a signed manner, “said the minister. Recognizing that on the day the Law of Association was presented to the Seimas, the police also did not distribute similar warnings to the organizers of the campaign. LGBT, since “the police did not have data for public order or security was violated and there were no reasons to issue warnings.”

By the way, the minister admitted that the police did not register violations of the law and that the controversial representative of the LGBT organization licked an artificial phalanx on the air of a television news program, which was shown at a time accessible to minors.

Asked if he did not give instructions to distribute warnings to the event organizers, A. Bilotaitė replied categorically: “It is regrettable that assumptions in such bad taste are being made, as if the Minister had given an order to harass and intimidate organizers of the March. I cannot speak of the former ministers, perhaps that practice existed before, but now the Ministry of the Interior does not do that. Unfortunately, making such assumptions shows very vividly the still insufficient understanding of some politicians of how the modern rule of law works. I can assure you that this assumption has nothing to do with reality. “

Bilotaitė was not convinced by the initiator of the investigation sent on the carpet.

“The Minister’s argument that prior intimidation is legal is null and void because it has never been applied before. In Belarus, Lukashenko is also said to repress protesters. Under Soviet rule it was also interpreted. Although, in fact, We all understand that such anti-democratic intimidation of the demonstrations is due only to the fact that the rulers are very afraid of them, “says deputy Petras Gražulis.