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Algirdas Paleckis

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Algirdas Paleckis
Algirdas Paleckis
Personal details
Born (1971-05-20) 20 May 1971 (age 53)
Bern, Switzerland
SpouseOlga Paleckienė
Alma materVilnius University

Algirdas Paleckis is a Lithuanian diplomat, politician, columnist, sentenced to 6 years in jail for spying for Russia.[1][2]

Biography

Algirdas Paleckis was born on May 20, 1971, in Bern, Switzerland to a family of Soviet diplomat Justas Vincas Paleckis. In 1994 Paleckis graduated from Vilnius University with a master's degree in journalism and international relations.

Career

From 1997 to 2001 A. Paleckis was the 1st secretary at Lithuania's Permanent Mission to the EU in Brussels. From 2001 to 2003 he was the Head of West European Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania.

  • From November 15, 2004, to April 17, 2007, he was a member of Lithuanian Parliament.
  • From January 24, 2005, to May 5, 2007 Paleckis was an assemblyman of the Council of Europe[3]

From 2007 to 2008 he worked as a Vice-Mayor of capital city Vilnius. In 2008 he founded the Frontas Party and was its leader until November 2014. Currently A. Paleckis is a political analyst. He is fluent in Lithuanian, English, French, Russian and German.

Criminal prosecution

In 2011, Lithuanian authorities had initiated prosecution against Paleckis for his alleged denial of Soviet aggression against Lithuania.[4] As part of his journalistic research, Paleckis claimed he had found several witnesses and ballistic assessments that seemed to indicate that there were secret snipers on the roof near the Vilnius TV centre who were shooting civilians. He then went on to state publicly that “it appears that in January 1991 our own people were shooting at their natives”. A Vilnius court had vindicated Paleckis in January 2012. The prosecution had appealed, and Paleckis was sentenced to a fine of 10,400 litas (€3,100) on June 12, 2012.[5]

He was arrested again in 2018 on suspicion of spying for Russia.[6][7][8] As of March 2020 he had been jailed without conviction (or start of legal proceedings) for more than 500 days. The Lithuanian authorities argued against granting bail on the grounds that Paleckis had lived in Moscow, had connections there and could flee from the country.

Paleckis was released on supervision in April 2020.[9] On July 27, 2021 Siauliai district court found Paleckis guilty and sentenced him to six years in prison. [10] The court ruling is not final and it can be appealed.[11]

Electoral history

2016 Lithuanian parliamentary election, single-member constituency of Naujoji Vilnia

Second round voting, October 23, 2016[12]
Party Candidate Votes %
TS–LKD Monika Navickiene 7,401 53.21
Independent Algirdas Paleckis 6,509 46.79
Total votes 13,910 100.00

References

  1. ^ "Members of the Seimas - Algirdas PALECKIS".
  2. ^ "Sentence in A. Paleckis' spy case: court awarded 6 years in jail".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-09-15. Retrieved 2012-11-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ "Lithuanian former journalist says country tried to deny speech, send him to prison".
  5. ^ United States Department of State
  6. ^ "Lithuania Arrests Several Citizens Suspected Of Spying For Russia". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 2018-12-19.
  7. ^ "Suspected Russian spy network found; Lithuania due to finish the case this year". lrt.lt. 11 July 2019. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  8. ^ "Lithuanian spy case recalls Soviet-era practices". dw.com. Retrieved 18 June 2020. The Lithuanian news portal lrytas.lt reported that Paleckis has been involved in gathering information — including private details — on investigators and prosecutors who are working on the so-called January 13 case that is addressing the bloody events of 1991, when 14 civilians were killed by Soviet forces who were trying to crush the pro-independence movement.
  9. ^ "Former politician accused of spying for Russia to be released on bail". 7 April 2020.
  10. ^ https://www.rferl.org/a/lithuania-spying-russia-paleckis/31379678.html
  11. ^ https://www.baltictimes.com/lithuanian_court_issues_6-year_prison_sentence_for_paleckis_for_russia_spying/
  12. ^ "2016 m. Seimo rinkimų rezultatai - VRK.lt".
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