Previous court judgment of 25th September 2008 stated that the Director B. Daškevič had one month to remove the boards with bilingual street names from particular buildings of the district, where about 80 per cent of inhabitants are Poles. The member of the self-government emphasized repeatedly that he did not have the tools to enforce the inhabitants to remove boards from their private properties.
Parties to the proceeding are the bailiff and the plenipotentiary of the Government in the Vilnius district, conservative Audrius Skaistys, who was appointed to this position by the previous government of Andrius Kubilius.
Under the judgement of 23rd December 2013 the Vilnius Regional Court had overruled the judgment of the court of first instance - the district Court of Šalčininkai district from 7th March 2013, which imposed a fine of 500 litas on the Director of the Administration of the Šalčininkai district self-government for failure in executing the court's judgement of 2008 and had set a new three-month deadline for the execution of the judgement. As an alternative it was suggested to B. Daškevič to request for the modification of the mode of the judgement execution.
B. Daškevič stated in the case that the judgement of 2008 was executed as the boards with bilingual street names that were placed on the buildings at the discretion of self-government have been removed; Mr Daškevič once again stressed that boards remained on private possessions whose owners did not agree with removal. Director of Administration underlined that he has no right to remove the boards from private residents' houses.
The Court of Appeal – Vilnius Regional Court – did not take the arguments of B. Daškevič into account and imposed a horrendous financial penalty which is 87 times higher than the fine that was imposed by a court of first instance: accordingly 500 litas and 43 400 litas.
Financial repressions and violation of human rights in Lithuania
When commenting on the verdict of the Vilnius Regional Court, Vanda Kravčionok, member of the Seimas of Lithuania, vice-chairwoman of the Electoral action of Poles in Lithuania underlined that the verdict is outrageous and taken on the political order of nationalist forces.
'The verdict is not only confusing, but harmful, as it completely discredits our country in the international arena. Such penalties for the use of one's mother tongue alongside the stage language in inscriptions placed on private homes are inadmissible. It seems that the court verdict is strictly political, which in turn puts a negative light on the judiciary of our state, as it is unthinkable in the civilized world that a superior court could make a hundredfold fine increase. We can only regret about the situation when the penalties are imposed for the use of mother tongue by national minorities in the area where Polish minority constitutes 79 per cent of population. And it is happening in the member state of the European Union. We are dealing with repressions and violation of fundamental human rights – the right to use one's mother tongue. This provocative verdict has invoked a storm of discontent and protests, which according to everything will only heighten. The responsibility for inciting national feuds falls on the conservative, representative on the Government in the Vilnius district. The person has been drawing courts into political processes. This happened to the Vilnius Regional Court too, which rules on political orders as we see. Recently this subject has been widely discussed in the media. Inter alia, dr. Jan Mincevič ('Holy cow from Veriškės or anatomy of hipocrisy' www.l24.lt), former member of three legislatures of the Seimas, former Soviet dissident, and Vidmantas Žiemelis ('Administrative courts: whether they meet the expectations of the nation' www.15min.lt), signatory of the Independence Act of Lithuania, former member and minister, have both talked about the subject,' told V. Kravčionok for L24.lt
We would like to remind you that Liucina Kotlovska, Director of the Administration of the Vilnius district self-government, is also persecuted for the use of mother tongue by the inhabitants of the Vilnius district, where Poles constitute more than 60 percent of population.
During the meeting of the Vilnius district branch of Association of Poles in Lithuania (APL) in November last year, in order to provide symbolic support for those who were punished for bilingual inscriptions, members of the board decided to announce the collection of money among people of good will and set up a separate bank account with eloquent annotation 'Solidarity'. On 5th November 2013 a bank account was established to which people in solidarity with the persons punished for bilingual signs with street names placed, by the way, on private estates of residents, can submit support (in litas, zloty, euros and dollars ):
Vilnius district branch of Association of Poles in Lithuania
Code of Organization: 186485331
Bank Account: „DNB" bank Lithuania, VAT Number: 40100
IBAN LT09 4010 0510 0181 1612
With reference "SOLIDARNOŚĆ"
A bank account was established for the same purpose by Šalčininkai district branch of Association of Poles in Lithuania also.
Most lawyers emphasize that in the view of EU legislation bilingual signs are permitted in compact residence of national minorities. In the Vilnius and Šalčininkai districts Poles constitute the majority of population (accordingly more than 60% and approximately 80%).