Lithuania: Leaders resist probe into sexual abuse within Catholic Church

Lithuania’s Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius and parliamentary speaker Juozas Olekas resisted calls for an independent inquiry into child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, BNS reported. Earlier, two local priests were charged with sexual offences against children. Sinkevicius insisted that any investigation was up to Church authorities. Olekas asserted that courts should do their work…

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Latvia: Vehicle registration agency management resigns amid scandal

All members of the supervisory and management boards of Latvia’s Road Traffic Safety Directorate (CSDD) have resigned, following a massive data leak at the agency, LSM reports. Earlier, President Edgars Rinkevics stated that CSDD’s management could not continue in office due to the scandal, DELFI reported. He has asked Latvia’s Prosecution Office to assess the…

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Lithuania: President rejects leaving International Criminal Court

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda assured that Lithuania was not considering withdrawing from the International Criminal Court (ICC), LRT reports. He insisted that any talk of leaving the ICC was “completely difficult to comprehend.” Earlier, the US urged allied countries, including Lithuania, to withdraw or distance themselves from the Rome Statute, which established the ICC, LRT…

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Latvia: Massive data leak at vehicle registration agency

A recent cyberattack against Latvia’s Road Traffic Safety Directorate (CSDD) breached the data of as many as 1.2 million people and around 200,000 companies, LETA reported. Latvia’s population totals a little over 1.8 million people, LSM noted. The attackers obtained personal and company data contained in payment receipts dating back to 2008. The compromised information…

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Lithuania: Two priests charged with sex crimes against children

Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius urged the Catholic Church to cooperate in an investigation into child sexual abuse by two local priests, BNS reported. He called for answers on whether the Church had taken sufficient measures to detect, prevent, and report such abuse. “Moral authority mandates the highest standards of responsibility,” he stated. In the…

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Lithuania: Stricter sanctions on Russians, Belarusians proposed

Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry has proposed expanding national sanctions against Russian and Belarusian citizens, BNS reports. Under the proposed draft legislation, Russian and Belarusian individuals and organisations would be barred from public cultural or sports events in Lithuania if they have operated in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, directly or indirectly support the war against Ukraine, or…

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Lithuania: President proposes to restrict migration

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda has proposed stricter rules on migration, BNS reports. Under the proposal, labour migrants would be required to leave Lithuania for at least six months after every two years of work. Also, the labour migrant quota would include not only new migrants but also those already in Lithuania. Skirmantas Bikelis, senior research…

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