Linas Jegelevičius
So, who – striptease dancers or, well, prostitutes – were entertaining Lithuania’s future justice minister 18 years ago? Lithuania’s new Justice Minister Rimantas Mockus of The Dawn of the River Neman has been linked by TV3 to a party allegedly involving prostitutes nearly two decades ago.
Meanwhile, the party’s leader, Remigijus Žemaitaitis, who is facing multiple charges, threatened this week that his party will leave the new ruling coalition if he is not appointed deputy speaker of the Lithuanian Parliament Seimas.
The start of the new Lithuanian government could not have been worse!
Reportedly, in the autumn of 2006, during a birthday celebration for Algimantas Minkauskas—the then-head of the Ecology and Law Violations Division of the Vilnius Police Department—women allegedly provided entertainment for police officers in exchange for money. At the time, Mockus was an officer in the same department.
The newspaper Lietuvos Rytas had covered the event in 2006, publishing photographs from the party.
Mockus declined to elaborate on the incident, stating that, since it was a private party, he will not comment on anything, however, he denied the presence of prostitutes, suggesting instead that a dancer might have been at the event.
Remigijus Žemaitaitis says, however, that Mockus had informed him about the incident before accepting the ministerial role.
“He told me upfront about the story and the photos that had surfaced back then. I said: it’s okay, you shouldn’t fear or dwell on something that happened 15 or 20 years ago,”
Žemaitaitis said, LRT.lt reported.
Following the revelation, President Gitanas Nausėda, who appointed Mockus as justice minister, called for clarity on the matter.
“The president was unaware of this story when considering the candidate. We believe the minister should address the situation and resolve any lingering doubts,” the President’s Office told the Elta news agency.
Previously, the nomination of another minister proposed by the Nemunas Dawn took a scandalous turn.
At the beginning of December, Tomas Kovėra, the party’s candidate for Environment Minister in Lithuania’s new ruling coalition, had to step down due to the media and public’s outcry over what he called a “great tragedy” for his family more than 20 years ago.
It was revealed that Kovėra had faced legal trouble after his girlfriend was found dead in his apartment from a gunshot wound to the head. He was initially suspected of beating and killing her, but it was later determined that she had died by suicide.
Kovėra was convicted of reckless possession of weapons in connection with the incident. However, charges of intentionally causing slight bodily harm were dropped by the Supreme Court after the statute of limitations expired.
In 2002, it was revealed that Kovėra had a prior conviction for poaching in the Žuvintas Reserve.
“Undoubtedly, the new coalition, consisting of the Social Democrats, the Democratic Union “For Lithuania,” and the Nemunas Dawn, is off to a rough start—but hardly any other beginning could have been expected – it is linked not by values, but by the mathematics, i.e. have a clear majority,”
Mindaugas Skritulskas, a Lithuanian lawmaker in the 2020-2024 Seimas, told BNN.
R.Žemaitaitis announced on Tuesday, the 17th of December, that his party is “definitely” considering leaving the coalition if he is not appointed as a deputy speaker of the Seimas.
“Yes, we’re thinking about it,” R. Žemaitaitis told reporters.
He explained that the decision stems from what he perceives as the ruling coalition’s failure to “honor” its agreement.
“There was a discussion within the political group today, and all 20 members agreed that the coalition agreement is not being respected,” he stated.
Under the coalition agreement, The Dawn of the River Neman is entitled to two deputy speaker positions in the Seimas. Agnė Širinskienė currently holds one of those positions.
R.Žemaitaitis said on Monday, the 16th of December, that he plans to seek the second position during the Seimas’ current fall session, asserting that his legal troubles have been addressed.
However, Seimas Speaker Saulius Skvernelis has insisted that Žemaitaitis cannot be nominated for the deputy speaker post until the court delivers a ruling, calling it the only way to “resolve the legal problems.”
Despite this, Žemaitaitis maintains that “the deputy speaker post belongs to his party” reiterating his candidacy for the position.
“We’ve had enough of this game-playing with the ministers and the bullying culture that went on for three weeks,” he said, describing the situation as “incomprehensible”. He added that these tensions over ministerial appointments are a key reason why his party is considering leaving the coalition.
“Žemaitaitis’ personality is more revolutionary than creative. He thrives on scandals and conflicts, which have carried him so far, but this will eventually come to an end—sooner or later,” M. Skritulskas emphasized to BNN.
Under the coalition agreement, ministerial posts were distributed among the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP), which nominated nine ministers, The Dawn of the River Neman with three, and the Democrats “For Lithuania,” which nominated two.
Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas expressed confidence that the issues with The Dawn of the River Neman’s demands could be resolved.
“There are certainly no ultimatums in our communication… We will address this issue at the coalition council and work towards a solution,” Paluckas told reporters at the Seimas earlier this week, acknowledging the challenges facing the ruling coalition and describing the early phase of governance as “the most difficult.”
He noted that the coalition agreement does not specify the names of deputy speakers and disagreed with Žemaitaitis’ claims that the agreement is not being followed.
As a reminder, on the 2nd of December, the Seimas voted to lift the legal immunity of R. Žemaitaitis, enabling his criminal trial on charges of inciting hatred against Jews to proceed.
The motion was overwhelmingly approved, with 101 votes in favour and none against or abstaining. According to the Seimas Statute, at least 71 out of the 141 MPs must vote in favour for such a decision to pass.
Žemaitaitis, while agreeing to a simplified procedure for the removal of his immunity, denied the charges and labelled them as politically motivated.
In the last series of accusations against the upstart politician, the Prosecutor General’s Office announced in November that material related to a complaint by PM Ingrida Šimonytė had been added to an ongoing pre-trial investigation into possible incitement of hatred.
The investigation was initiated following a Facebook post in early November by the Nemunas Dawn leader. In the post, he called on people to gather outside the home of Vytautas Landsbergis, Lithuania’s first post-independence leader and the honorary chairman of the conservative Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats.
Accusing the conservatives of inciting unrest, Žemaitaitis wrote: “Are we sure that Ingrida Šimonytė and her leftists will not provoke some attacks against Samogitians? They have experience!!!”
As reported by LRT.lt, the original version of the post used the term “Jews” instead of “Samogitians,” but Žemaitaitis later edited it, claiming the term had been a mistake.