News

On 22 July, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis thanked Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg for his timely expressed strong support for Lithuania’s position on the decision of the Austrian authorities to release the suspect in the January 13th case, who was detained on the European arrest warrant.

“May I sincerely thank you for the timely and substantial support, concerning our legitimate and morally grounded appeal - to restore the historical justice and to punish those involved into the war crimes and crimes against humanity,” reads Ažubalis’s letter to K.Schwarzenberg.

According to the Lithuanian Foreign Minister, the Czech position sets an example of the European solidarity. On 21 July, A.Ažubalis and K.Schwarzenberg had a telephone conversation and discussed Austria’s hasty decision to release the suspect. The Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement, which stresses that persons responsible for crimes committed by dictatorships in Central and Eastern Europe need to be brought to justice.

“Each European country must have a moral obligation to cooperate in order to achieve this justice,” the statement reads.

The leadership of the current Polish Presidency of the EU has also highlighted the moral imperative to prosecute the suspects in the January 13th case.

“Persons, who are responsible for the tragic events of 13 January 1991, should be justly punished,” the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented to the Austrian media. Polish Minister of Justice Krzysztof Kwiatkowski told an Austrian daily that there was a need to look at the events of January 13th not only from the legal, but also from moral perspective.