Algirdas Paleckis

Algirdas Paleckis is a Lithuanian diplomat, politician, columnist. [1]

Algirdas Paleckis
Algirdas Paleckis
Personal details
Born (1971-05-20) 20 May 1971
Bern, Switzerland
Spouse(s)Olga Paleckienė
Alma materVilnius University

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 [2]

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.[3] 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.[4]

He was arrested again in 2018 on suspicion of spying for Russia.[5][6][7] As of March 2020 he has been jailed without conviction (or start of legal proceedings) for more than 500 days. The Lithuanian authorities argue against granting bail on the grounds that Paleckis has lived in Moscow, has connections there and could flee from the country.

Electoral history

2016 Lithuanian parliamentary election, single-member constituency of Naujoji Vilnia
Second round voting, October 23, 2016[8]
Party Candidate Votes %
Homeland Union Monika Navickiene 7,401 53.21
Independent Algirdas Paleckis 6,509 46.79
Total votes 13,910 100.00

References
  1. http://www3.lrs.lt/docs3/kad5/w5_istorija.show5-p_r=786&p_k=4&p_a=5&p_asm_id=47699.html
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-09-15. Retrieved 2012-11-30.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. http://press.org/news-multimedia/news/lithuanian-former-journalist-accuses-country-trying-deny-his-speech-freedom-sen/
  4. United States Department of State
  5. "Lithuania Arrests Several Citizens Suspected Of Spying For Russia". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 2018-12-19.
  6. "Suspected Russian spy network found; Lithuania due to finish the case this year". lrt.lt. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  7. "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.
  8. https://www.vrk.lt/2016-seimo/rezultatai?srcUrl=/rinkimai/102/2/1306/rezultatai/lt/rezultataiVienmRpg_rpgId-18960.html
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