Более 20 неправительственных организаций обратились к президенту Гитанасу Науседе с просьбой не назначать председателя парламентского Комитета по национальной безопасности и обороне (КНБО) Лауринаса Кащюнаса министром обороны. По мнению авторов обращения, ценности этого политика противоречат правам человека.
«Candidates for the presidency who support the ratification of the Istanbul Convention and the Partnership Law should not nominate Laurinas Kasciunas for one of the most important state positions, especially at this time,» emphasized Sandra Adomaviciute, director of the Open Foundation, in her statement.
According to non-governmental organizations, Kasciunas’ activities promote radical ideas that are directed against national minorities, civil society, and migrants.
«Extreme views of the politician are reflected in his (L. Kasciunas — ELTA) biography. (…) His appointment as a minister would mean the normalization of such views and ideas,» said one of the authors of the appeal, Dr. Karolis Dambrauskas, a social scientist.
«Laurinas Kasciunas was one of the initiators of the policy of turning away, as a result of which an unknown number of migrants died or suffered irreversibly on the Lithuanian-Belarusian border,» the statement said.
The authors of the appeal also stressed that the appointment of Kasciunas as Minister of Defense poses a threat in the face of war. According to them, the conservative’s past would be beneficial to hostile states.
According to the initiators, if the president approves Kasciunas’ candidacy, organizations will seek to initiate a vote of no confidence in the politician in the parliament.
The appeal was signed by the Open Lithuania Foundation, the Lithuanian Centre for Human Rights, Sienos Group, the Human Rights Monitoring Institute, the Centre for Equal Opportunity Development, the Lithuanian Union of Social Democratic Youth, Vilnius Women’s Shelter, the NGO «Cooperation Platform for Development,» and other associations.
