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“The judgment of the appeals court was made without establishing and assessing all the relevant circumstances for the correct resolution of the case, and without establishing them it is not possible to properly apply substantive law,” states the LAT judgment.
The judges who heard the case ruled that, although the Baku statement was considered an opinion and not a message, “it should not be intended to offend, damage business reputation, conceal or distort facts and data.”
The ruling also emphasizes that the burden of proving that Mr. Bako’s statements are true and that they were not intended to offend or damage his reputation falls on the parliamentarian himself and not on the company defending his rights.
According to the Supreme Court, the courts hearing the case did not assess whether the conclusion of the parliamentary investigation of the Seimas Defense and National Security Committee (NSGC) provided a factual basis for V. Bakas’s opinion, or whether this opinion was expressed in good faith without using the official position or damaging the concern.
The SCL also pointed out that the courts must value the fact that, taking into account the duties and functions of V. Bakas, the public may not be so critical of his speeches, so his opinion must be considered and formulated with caution.
Concern MG Baltic assures that V. Bakas will continue to claim responsibility for damage to his reputation through legal means.
“As long as politicians like Vytautas Bakas pay to slander and lie, hoping that the immunity of a Seimas member will protect them from liability, they will. Their statements may be considered inappropriate attacks, but they violate the rights of other people,” said Romanas Raulynaitis, the company’s lawyer, in a comment sent to BNS.
Mr Bak told the SNB that he hoped the court ruling would inspire more people to oppose corruption and its manifestations in state and business structures.
“I have achieved what I have done, that the public became aware of some connections between oligarchic groups and politicians and the media, and this allowed the public to recover, allowed the approval of certain laws (…) that is my objetive. I have said more than once that there is no vested interest here, ”said a member of the Seimas.
He sees the lawsuit started by concern as an assault, an attempt to exhaust and discourage the resistance, but said he did not intend to stop his anti-corruption activities.
“If it seems to us that the concern, its owners are behaving in a criminal, illegal way, there are all the signs of corruption and the institutions are not responding, then we have to name it, say it very clearly and find out why those institutions did not work. This is the mission of a politician ”, said the parliamentarian.
The verdict was originally scheduled to be announced on Thursday, but the court decided to extend the order for another day.
The dispute between the concern and the parliamentarian arose after the company appealed to the court against the statements of the former president of the Seimas NSGK that the activities of MG Baltic corresponded to the characteristics of an organized criminal group and that it made approximately 500 million euros. euros to the state. to damage.
Last year, both the City of Vilnius and the Vilnius Regional Courts acknowledged that the MP had damaged the reputation of concern MG Baltic by comparing the group of companies to an organized criminal group and speaking about the damage of the concern to the state.
In his appeal to the Supreme Court, V. Bakas stated that the representatives of the concern, at his discretion, summarized the excerpts of the interviews given by him and constructed the statements of the controversy themselves. The parliamentarian also explained that the decisions of the lower courts violated his freedom of expression and that the judges who heard the case did not verify the factual basis of his words.
Concern MG Baltic asked the court to reject V. Bakas’ complaint and stressed that in this dispute the fundamental question of the right balance between the right to freedom of expression and respect for a person’s reputation must be raised.
In September, V. Bakas tried to remove the chairman of the panel, Antanas Simniškis, and the judges Gediminas Sagaitis and Donatas Šernas from the case due to possible prejudice. According to the member of the Seimas, A. Simniškis examined the case that ended in favor of the concern two years ago, so it can be partial. Mr. Bak’s application was rejected.
In previous courts, MG Baltic also tried to get V. Bakas to reimburse LTL 20,000. non-pecuniary damages, but the group received only almost 1.5 thousand. costs. The Court of First Instance did not award this money as it considered that the lack of veracity of Mr. Bako’s allegations should be a sufficient means to satisfy the objectives of the MG Baltic action.
As chairman of the Defense and National Security Committee, V. Bakas led a parliamentary inquiry a few years ago. It was followed by the conclusion that MG Baltic’s activities pose a threat to Lithuania’s national security. Concern called the investigation a political sham.
The Vilnius Regional Court is currently investigating a case of political corruption, where accusations have been made against various politicians, the former vice president of MG Baltic Raimondas Kurlianskis and the concern itself.
Officials suspect that Kurlianskis gave bribes to politicians in exchange for making decisions beneficial to concern. The defendants do not admit the allegations and say the investigation was biased.
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