Lithuanian Seimas to discuss “Byalyatski’s case”

The Foreign Affairs Committee of the Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, plans to hold a special meeting on August 9 to discuss issues concerning the transfer of information about Belarusian human rights defenders’ bank accounts to Belarusian authorities.

“We must find out who brought such a shame on Lithuania by giving the Belarusian regime information about democrats in that country,” said the committee’s chairman, Emanuelis Zingeris, according to Regnum.

The secretariat of Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius has requested the Lithuanian justice ministry for all details regarding the disclosure of banking information that entailed the arrest in Belarus of prominent human rights defender Ales Byalyatski.

The 48-year-old Byalyatski, chairman of a human rights organization called Vyasna (Spring) and vice president of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), was arrested in Minsk on August 4 and accused of large-scale tax evasion on the basis of information about his account at a bank in Vilnius, which had been provided by the Lithuanian justice ministry.

Vyasna Deputy Chairman Valyantsin Stefanovich told reporters in Vilnius on Friday that the Belarusian authorities had, in particular, received a report on Mr. Byalyatski’s account at DnB NORD Bank.

According to Mr. Stefanovich, information about his own account at SEB Bank in Lithuania was also provided to Belarusian authorities.

He described the Lithuanian justice ministry’s move as misunderstanding that will cost Lithuania much.

As Mr. Stefanovich said, the Belarusian tax authorities viewed the money in the accounts as their personal income and accused them of concealing it. Since the money in Mr. Byalyatski’s account was 4.500 times more than the amount not subject to tax, proceedings under the Criminal Code were instituted against him. The amount in Mr. Stefanovich’s account was not enough for a criminal case.

“That money, which was transferred by foreign foundations, by no means was our personal funds,” Mr. Stefanovich stressed. “It was contributed to finance the activities of the Vyasna Human Rights Center and was spent for this purpose. In particular, it was spent for providing assistance to victims of political repression.”