BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

06/09/2006

Transfer circumstances of Lithuanian security service officer to diplomatic service to be investigated

Former President of Lithuania Rolandas Paksas is going to bring an action in connection with the publication by the magazine Ekstra that he regards as a part of , organized against him, online-newspaper Penki kontinentai writes In an article published on September 4 his name is mentioned in the connection with the death in Brest, Belarus, of Vytautas Pociunas, a staff member of the State Security Department of Lithuania. A statement publicised on the online-site of the political party lead by Paksa's it is said that he also has sent a letter to the General Public Prosecutor of Lithuania, Algimantas Valantinas, asking to pay a special attention to the case of Pociunas and to give the society a clear report on the circumstances of the tragedy. In the mentioned article on the transfer of Pociunas from his high-ranking Security Department post to the diplomatic service job in the Lithuanian consulate in Grodno, the magazine pays attention to the fact that this very intelligence officer was heading the team that had gathered information on of Paksas that, in fact, facilitated the beginning of the procedure of his impeachment. This is evaluated in the statement as a hint directed to formation of an opinion as if the transfer of Pociunas to Belarus was a kind of revenge "for the assistance to the organizers of the attack against Paksas". Circumstances of the transfer of the late security officer to diplomatic work were discussed September 4 at the session of the parliamentary committee on defence and national security of Lithuania. According to Penki kontinentai, Director of the Security Department of Lithuania Arvidas Pociunas, Public Prosecutor Valantinas and his deputy Gintaras Jasaitis were asked to speak on the subject. Some members of the parliament have demanded to launch, with the beginning of the autumn session of the parliament (September 10), a speccial parliamentary investigation of this case. Vytautas Pociunas was found dead on August 23 at the Intorurist hotel in Brest.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister defends his staff member accused of ties with Russian secret services Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Petras Vaitekunas has taken under his protection the Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Albinas Januska who has been accused by the mass media almost in complicity to Russian secret services, online-paper Penki kontinentai reports. In particular, Januska allegedly had together with the Deputy Director of the Security Department of Lithuania Darius Jurgeliavicius promoted the sending to "an exile" to Belarus of the security service officer Vytautas Pociunas. According to the magazine Ekstra, Pociunas because he had "driven" into the 2K project (the project of cooperation between the sea-ports of Klaipeda and Kaliningrad) in which had been interested the managing director of the Dujotekana, Raimondas Stonis, ostensibly, a friend of both, Januska and the Deputy Director Jurgeliavicius, who had allegedly provided a cover of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to this project. Janushka resolutely rejects all these attacks, though he does not deny acquaintance with Pociunas and Stonis, but only as people with whom it had been necessary to contact. According to Vaitekunas, he has talked to both, Januska and the Security Department members, and any of the facts mentioned in the article of the magazine has not proved to be true. Minister declared that he knew Januska for 18 years since the times of the Popular Front, Sajudis, and he was ready to be charged completely for him.

Source:

http://www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=1056