On December 17th a group of members of the European Parliament visited imprisoned Lithuanian diplomat, politician and publicist Algirdas Paleckis in the prison located in the city of Kaunas.
Algirdas Paleckis has been serving his 6-year term after the guilty verdict made by the first instance court on June 21, 2021 and upheld by the Appeal court on May 6, 2022. Algirdas Paleckis was declared guilty on charges of alleged espionage in the interests of Russia to which committing Algirdas Paleckis has never admitted.
The delegation visiting Paleckis consisted of the two MEPs from Ireland, Clare Daly and Mick Wallace, and Tatjana Zdanoka, MEP from Latvia. Two representatives of the Latvian Russian Union, Andrejs Pagors, the member of the Jelgava city Council, and Iosifs Korens, the chair of the International Movement for Future Without Fascism, have also visited Kaunas in order to express support to Algirdas on behalf of the party.
The meeting was carried out in the atmosphere of tightened security. The members of the delegation were separated from Algirdas Paleckis with a glass partition. They were сommunicating using a telephony. The MEPs pointed out that the prison staff behaved in a well-mannered way and that the interior conditions of the prison can be described as “matching the EU standards” as Clare Daly said.
At that, Clare Daly sadly stated, “We are not happy to be here. We are not happy to listen to our colleague Tatjana Zdanoka and Algirdas Paleckis exchanging names of people in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia who are either in prison or face long-term sentences only because they have dissenting views… It is horrible and it is not the case for the Western part of Europe”.
Tatjana Zdanoka told that Algirdas Paleckis feels relieved that he is now alone in a quadruple cell since some of the inmates felt strongly against him believing that he was “an enemy to Lithuania”.
Mick Wallace told that at the end of a two-hour visit, he sang the famous unofficial Dublin anthem, Molly Malone song, for Algirdas. The visitors also brought new strings to Algirdas’ guitar he has been permitted to keep in prison.
Andrejs Pagors wrote in his Facebook following the meeting: “Algirdas is a prisoner of conscience, a political prisoner who has always been speaking up for people. With Algirdas gaining popularity and recognition, and most importantly, people’s support, Algirdas became a thorn in the eye to the authorities, who decided to get rid of him with a quickly concocted case. I observed a number of court sessions in the trial against Algirdas witnessing the absurdity of the puppet trial. Algirdas is not broken, and we support our friend and comrade”.
