Driven by the sweet but relentless craving for power

  • 2012-05-16
  • Interview By Linas Jegelevicius

As much as Algimantas Matulevicius, an ex-parliamentarian and a key figure in overthrowing the former head of the State Security Department, is sneered at for his eccentric and sometimes controversial behavior, flip-flopping and explosive rhetoric, he could also be envied by all political once-big-shot-now-on-the-benchers for his unwavering political zest and zealotry. In the deep margins of politics, seeing tragic poll ratings for his National Unity Union (NUU), he may be doomed, but the smart money says it’s still too early to write off this 64-year-old politician.

“Among nearly four dozen registered political party leaders, some of them only in the registration papers, he is, quite ironically, a vivid and discernible figure to the public. Probably he is one of a very few political outcasts that still can stir the waters before the 2012 parliamentary elections. If he feels he cannot make it through his party, he will do whatever it takes to jump onto the Seimas-bound train on somebody else’s political platform. With the clamorous statements he makes, he is still a desirable figure for many ambitious marginal parties,” a political analyst, who didn’t want to have his name mentioned, said to The Baltic Times.

Going for the limelight, which can be translated into political muscle under the right circumstances, Matulevicius keeps making high-profile appearances in Garliava, the unassailable encampment of the murder-pedophile-and-politics saga, and the headquarters of the party Drasius Way. It was founded in the wake of the obscure death of Drasius Kedys, who is charged with the murders of his sister-in-law and a Kaunas judge. It is rumored the State Security Department has warned the highest echelons of power of threats, if the controversial Drasius Way becomes a parliamentary force. This is a party that Matulevicius mulls forming a coalition with. Matulevicius found some time to answer The Baltic Times questions.

What do you expect from the upcoming electoral campaign? Do you believe all candidates are known already?
No, not all participants are known yet. The campaign promises two things: either it will go as it used to go before, with the systemic [traditional] parties splurging on their advertising campaigns, or we’ll see some unexpected scenario.

What would that be?
The systemic parties are wiped away from the Olympics of power, and new parties, capable of replacing the anti-human political system, will take their slots.

How similar and different is the Seimas with the one you were in four year ago?
They are similar for the same thing: having promised change before the 2008 elections, they haven’t met their promises. More than that, they behaved exactly the same as all their predecessors. Speaking of the differences, it seems the incumbent prime minister will stay at the wheel of government until the end. This shows that the Conservatives are the same as the Social Democrats, whom they didn’t want to bring down four years ago, though they could easily have. Now we see that the Social Democrats, supported by Uspaskich’s Laborists, let the Conservatives hang on the power peg until the mandate expires. Both parties seemingly like seeing Lithuania being robbed, and walk away.

What are you concerned with most nowadays?
The anti-human political power, attached with shadowy clans, serves only a handful of riches. Over 22 years of independence, Lithuania, unfortunately, hasn’t created a middle class. In fact, we haven’t been able to improve what was created in the old Lithuania. And more than that, we’ve ruined nearly everything that was good in it. Instead, the power holders have established their own philosophy aimed to scam the state and people around it. As a matter of fact, these things are irreversible, as the whole nation has decamped. In fact, our Lithuanian salaries are on par with some dragging African nations’ pay. I feel ashamed that we are letting a bunch of sordid scum and croons to rip us off.

Nevertheless, your excoriation doesn’t yield the NUU a desirable spot in the polls. Doesn’t it push you to change the belligerent rhetoric?
I don’t believe in any ratings. Our union is a new kind of a political organization. Instead of relishing the privileges and perks power gives, we aim to redo the anti-human system from the very core. Currently we are in serious talks with the Drasius Way party over forming a coalition for the parliamentary elections. There are other, significant unions and parties showing interest in joining the coalition. I believe we can counterweigh the systemic parties.

You have to agree, that not so many people have heard of the National Unity Union.
Please, don’t call us diminutive.

Don’t you think it makes sense to amend the political party law, bringing more constraints to party registering procedures?
It is necessary to make party financing procedures more stringent, i.e., the use of illegal money for political advertizing, the case of Uspaskich’s Labor Party. With the money, he had once usurped the political power in the country, and is seeking to repeat it in the fall. Although the State Security Deparment, after busting his party for financial crimes, handed over the criminal case to the General Prosecutor’s Office, the latter has dragged on its investigation indefinitely. And not only the Laborists, but also the Social Democrats, Conservatives and those from the Order and Justice Party have to do a lot of cleaning in their ranks, which are intertwined with the clans. New political entities, like our National Unity Union, have to replace the corrupt criminal parties.

You seem kind of desperate to force your way back to Seimas. Weren’t you fed up with the squabbles and quarrels in it four years ago?  Even if you happen to clinch a parliamentary seat again, you will be snubbed by all the traditional parties you loathe. Are you ready for a single warrior’s status?
Are you implying I’d be a mere statist in it? If you are ready to be a statist somewhere, don’t even try to give a fight. I believe that Lithuania and our nation will find inner strength to wipe out that scum, who are turning Lithuania into an extinct land. I am ready to be shot for the cause of Lithuania. And, trust me, I am well aware of the forces we have waged our war against.

By the way, you are chastised for being a symbol of all Seimas’ flip-floppers. How many parties have you been with?
Like the state clan-representing Lietuvos Rytas (Lithuanian Morning), you are spreading baseless heresies. The NUU is my third party. I never hid that I belonged to the Communist Party, which had a lot of decent people. Only liars like to besmear people like me with dung.

You have made the loudest splashes in the former Seimas’ National Security and Defense Committee, at whose wheel you ousted the then-chairman of Lithuania’s State Security Department. The ouster was led by your vociferous statements of “statesmen’s clans.” Can you pinpoint concrete persons? Otherwise, it seems to be a political bugaboo.
Indeed, your question is very naive. Those who are keen to know the names do know them by now. A lot has been written and spoken of them by now. The persons in the clan are very influential, as they control part of the media and business. In fact, many politicians shake before them. I’ll say the rest of the names a bit later.

By the way, do you see any threats to national security now?
I do. In fact, they have increased significantly. Putting away my modesty, I can tell that my led committee had shown how a parliamentary committee is supposed to work. If President Adamkus had supported me until the end, we would have tackled most of the present political problems, especially the clan thing. I was the first to have revealed it. I am glad the Lithuanian people understand that the statesmen-pedophile clan is the source of all our maladies. If we manage to exterminate it, we’ll have halved the work necessary to put Lithuania on a different path, to a better life for all.

You said you have information on CIA prisons in Lithuania. Can you elaborate?
Whatever I knew of them I told to the General Prosecutor’s Office. However, I don’t expect anything major from the investigation, as it is led by prosecutors who play the fiddle according to the behests of the statesmen’s clan. That is why the prosecutors refuse to start investigations into the activities of some high-caliber former and current big-shots of the clan. When we come to power, we’ll make sure that, like Polish President Kwasniewski, we will refresh the recent memories.

Your implication in the Garliava events puts you on par with other extreme and law-defying wannabe political entities. How come that, speaking of a law-abiding state, you urge one to resist the court verdict to hand the girl over to her own mother?
Dishonest judges cannot pass correct decisions. I really do know that the pedophile case is being covered up at the highest echelons. Therefore, I am defending the girl. I am not a coward who sits in the bushes when a crime in the name of the state is being committed. It is not Garliava that ruins the state, as some clan-owned media seeks to present it, but the statesmen-pedophiles and corrupted law enforcers.

You had wrapped up the State Security Department scandal by putting out the book “State governance backstage,” which, certainly, was your way to score as many political points from the scandal as possible. I know you are working on your second book, which, if we believe a media leak, will be titled “Mislead Lithuania.” Can you give me a glimpse at its content?
The book is nearly finished. The title you mentioned is conditional so far, and it may change. I’ve put in all my contemplations about the development of our state during the independence period, as well as what should be done to turn Lithuania into a prosperous, working and creating country. I have my own vision of the country and I know how to realize it, despite the clan’s efforts to put us on the reverse path.

Well, you have to admit you have to exert extraordinary efforts and huge financial resources to pull out a win in the elections. How do you intend to churn up the campaign?
I really don’t care what the clan-owned media says about me and the NUU. We’ve registered in the Central Electoral Commission an initial group of citizens who are collecting signatures for the Civil Codex amendments, which will help protect the girl [Kedys’ daughter] as well as other sexually abused children, passed. Also, we are considering suggesting establishing a so-called State Tribunal, which would be in charge of control of all law enforcement, including the judiciary system, and initiating ‘very important to the state’ cases. The idea is not new, and I believe it is the right time to pursue its implementation. As for the elections, I’m not as much preoccupied with them as others are. If people come to an understanding that a change in the political life is needed and hand us the mandate, they will see it.