Linas Jegelevičius
The Lithuanian Parliament, Seimas, has found itself in an ambiguous and unprecedented situation – it has failed to strip Vytautas Gapšys, a convicted lawmaker, of his parliamentary mandate so far. Furthermore, the MP wants to continue to legislate from behind bars.
Although 4 resolutions were submitted to the parliament, in which a member of the Seimas could be removed from office on an extraordinary basis like conviction, none of them received the necessary support of 85 parliamentarians. A total of 122 members of the Seimas participated in the last voting to strip Gapšys of his parliamentary mandate in early January.
Also in early January, the MP’s second bid to have the execution of his prison sentence in a high-profile political corruption case suspended failed as the country’s Supreme Court once again rejected his request.
The court ruled that the suspension of the execution of a court sentence is an exception to the general rule and is possible only in exceptional circumstances.
“This is unchartered waters in Lithuanian legislature. In fact, as far as I remember, there was only one legislator (Audrius Butkevičius, the signatory of the 11th of March Independence Act and the first Defence Minister of a post-1990 Lithuania was sentenced for bribery in 1998 and served a jail time before being released – L.J.),” a Lithuanian parliamentarian told BNN.
The Supreme Court said that securing an MP’s so-called free mandate
(unrestricted performance of one’s duties) is incompatible, or hardly compatible, with the actual execution of a prison sentence, but disagreed with Gapšys’ defence lawyer that this was a ground for suspending the execution of a verdict in force.
According to the Code of Criminal Procedure, a final court judgment and ruling are binding on all state and municipal authorities and officials, companies, institutions and organizations and individuals and must be enforced without objection and without hindrance throughout the territory of Lithuania, the Supreme Court has said.
Gapšys, a Labour Party MP convicted in the MG Grupė political corruption case,
is serving four-years-and-six-months’ sentence in Kaunas remand prison.
BNN reminds that, at the end of 2023, the Court of Appeal reversed the ruling of the first instance court (the District Court of Vilnius City – L.J.) and convicted all defendants in the high-profile political corruption case pertaining to MG Grupė (former MG Baltic), one of Lithuania’s biggest business groups.
The MP, along with the Labour Party as a legal entity, was convicted of accepting a 27 100-euro bribe from Raimondas Kurlianskis, a former vice-president of MG Baltic.
In early January, Gapšys was brought in from the prison to the parliament to attend the impeachment proceedings. Addressing his fellow lawmakers, he said he was not guilty of bribery and influence peddling and insisted that he was convicted for his political statements.
Jonas Jarutis, MP of the Farmers and Greens Union, says that conflicting court rulings are pouring gas on fire.
BNN reminds that, previously, the District Court of Vilnius City exonerated all the defendants in the high-profile corruption case.
“We have a really strange situation where one [court] acquits completely and the other convicts completely, which raises questions for the public and for us as citizens. We would like to have that clarity, definitive clarity, and then it would be much easier for us to decide,” the MP told LRT.lt
Until the impeachment, or even if it fails, Gapšys would remain a parliament member, but only formally. He would not be paid and would not be able to attend plenary or committee meetings while in prison.
But can the MP participate in Seimas plenary sessions remotely – from behind bars?
The leader of the Parliament, Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, does not think that the statute of the Seimas should be changed in order to enable Gapšys to participate remotely in plenary sessions.
“I don’t think that we should change the statute in the direction of providing the opportunity for imprisoned members of the Seimas to perform their work in full. I don’t think that we should prepare for such cases or apply the Seimas statute to such truly exceptional and dishonourable situations,” said V. Čmilytė-Nielsen.
Therefore, the head of the parliament says that V. Gapšys will probably no longer be able to fulfil his duties as a member of the Seimas.
“It is clear that a member of the Seimas in a prison will not be able to carry out his work to the full extent,” stated V. Čmilytė-Nielsen.
The Speaker of the Seimas is supported by her first deputy Jurgis Razma. According to the politician, V. Gapšys could remotely participate in plenary sessions of the parliament only if the amendments to the statute of the Seimas were approved. However, the Vice-Chairman of the Seimas believes that such exceptional conditions should not be created for the jailed lawmaker.
“Theoretically, the Statute of the Seimas can be changed to make this possible. But it seems to me, this would be an exaggerated appeasement of the imprisoned member of the Seimas, so I would definitely not support such things,” J. Razma told Elta, a Lithuanian newswire.
Protesting, chairman of the opposition Labor Party, Andrius Mazuronis,
took down the portrait of President Gitanas Nausėda in his office in the Seimas and put it in the closet.
“In the most honourable place, near the pot, near the umbrellas. Where it belongs,” he told LNK news channel.
This is how the leader of the Labor Party A. Mazuronis clamoured against the statements of the President about the court decision by which the labourer V. Gapšys was imprisoned.
“The President’s comments about the “new lowest bottom” are deplorable…Listen, what kind of head of state can allow himself to make such statements when the judges of the Supreme Court are still examining the cassation appeal”, wondered the leader of the opposition Labour Party.
Nausėda spoke about the bottom after the Seimas failed to revoke Gapšys‘ mandate.
“First of all, what does it look like from the public’s point of view? Where is the bottom then? I think we’re constantly testing that bottom. And it is very bad that we are testing it,” G. Nausėda said.
Meanwhile, the Seimas mulls several initiatives to address the Gapšys situation by amending the existing laws. For example, the afore-mentioned Conservative MP, Razma, registered an amendment to the Statute of the Seimas, which foresees that impeachment votes would no longer be secret.
Vytautas Mitalas, MP of the ruling Freedom Party, speaks about amendments to the Constitution, envisioning that a convicted politician should be thrown out of the Seimas right away without any additional procedures.
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