Algirdas Paleckis. Archival photoMOSCOW, May 17.Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova commented on the rejection by the Lithuanian Court of Appeal of the complaint of Lithuanian politician Algirdas Paleckis on charges of spying for Russia, calling it an example of violation of human rights and freedoms.»The outcome of this trumped-up trial in the absence of any real evidence of the guilt of Algirdas Paleckis is another example of a cynical violation of human rights and freedoms in Lithuania,» Zakharova's comment on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry reads.
Zakharova: the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO unties Russia's hands She noted that from the very beginning of the persecution of Paleckis, there was a clear «political order for reprisal against him.» year in Vilnius, which could reveal the truth about the true culprits of this tragedy,» Zakharova explained. According to her, the practice of persecuting dissidents using punitive justice in Lithuania is systemic, long-term in nature. «Profile international structures that regularly comment on the situation in other countries , they are bashfully silent on this issue,» Zakharova added. On May 6, the Lithuanian Court of Appeal upheld the sentence of Paleckis, who was sentenced to six years on charges of spying for Russia. Paleckis has been under arrest since the fall of 2018. In April 2020, the Lithuanian Court of Appeal overturned the arrest of the oppositionist, changing the preventive measure to intensive supervision. Earlier, he wrote a letter in which he stated that he considered the case against him «revenge» of the authorities for his position regarding the clashes at the television center in Vilnius on January 13, 1991, in which 14 people died — in a television interview in 2011, the oppositionist suggested that then «his own shot at their own.» On March 11, 1990, the Supreme Council of Lithuania announced the restoration of the independence of the republic. In January 1991, unauthorized protests began in Lithuania, and special forces soldiers were deployed to the republic. On the night of January 13, a column of Soviet armored vehicles headed for the center of Vilnius. During the clashes near the television center, 14 people were killed and over 600 were injured. The Lithuanian prosecutor's office claims that the people who protested and died at the Vilnius TV tower in January 1991 were killed by Soviet soldiers, but does not provide any evidence. .jpg» />Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania urged to stop the transit of gas and oil from Russia through Ukraine
