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The commission confirmed this conclusion at its meeting on Friday with seven votes in favor and one against.
The commission’s chairman, the liberal Arminas Lydeka, told reporters after the meeting that “the immunity granted to a member of the Seimas should not be a cover-up of criminal responsibility.”
“If the deputy of the Seimas P. Gražulis thinks that he is right and has a different truth than the one stated by the representatives of the General Prosecutor’s Office, I believe that he will have the opportunity to defend himself and prove it in court. I believe that the decision of the commission is also a help for the Seimas member P. Gražulis to participate in the judicial proceedings and for the Prosecutor’s Office to complete this case by taking one or another decision in court, ”said A. Lydeka.
Jonas Pinskus, the only Seimas member to vote against waiving immunity, said that he believed P. Gražulis acted in response to requests for business assistance received and therefore fulfilled his duties as a Seimas member. .
“It was not only Gražulis in the whole process, there were both Mr. Milius and Judex female, these two people were acquitted. (…) Member of the Seimas P. Gražulis fulfilled his duty as a member of the Seimas, (reacted) to the inquiries where he addressed him, maybe not quite correctly, maybe with errors, but if he is acquitted again by the court, the process will leave the remaining bad things to him, “J. Pinskus told reporters.
The Attorney General repeatedly asked Seimas to waive Mr. Gražulis’ legal immunity in order to complete the pre-trial investigation into the allegedly illegal actions of the politician. The previous parliament had already rejected such a request.
The Seimas Provisional Commission decides whether to comply with the prosecutor’s requests for waiver of immunity, and the final decision is made by the entire parliament.
To waive the immunity of a member of the Seimas, at least 71 parliamentarians must vote for it.
According to police, P. Gražulis helped manage the problems of the frozen food company Judex, when Russian officials found the Listeria bacteria in the company’s products in 2015.
Prosecutors say that while helping Judex, a Seimas member repeatedly called Lithuanian and Russian officials, went to Russia’s Krasnodar region to influence Russian officials, urged businessmen to pay bribes and asked Judex to violate the existing procedures. “He received property benefits for it.
The Attorney General claims that with such actions the parliamentarian undermined the prestige of his functions, the authority of the Seimas, broke the oath of a member of the Seimas and as a result the state suffered significant damage.
Mr. Gražulis denies the allegations and claims that this case is a political settlement.
In 2016, prosecutors tried to question P. Gražulis as a special witness, but he refused to testify.
Last June, the Attorney General appealed to the Seimas to waive his parliamentary immunity, but then the parliament rejected the request.
According to the prosecutor’s office, after exhausting all available investigative possibilities, the pre-trial investigation into the abuse ended last fall.
However, according to the prosecution, the fact that the parliamentarian was sworn in again after this year’s elections allows the petitioner to waive P. Gražulis’ immunity.
The police in this investigation had alleged allegations of abuse of power and falsification of documents by Jonas Milius, former head of the State Food and Veterinary Service (SFVS), but the Attorney General’s Office terminated the pre-trial investigation against J. Milius last June.
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