Lietuva in brief - 2013-01-24

Jan 23, 2013

Kaunas Regional Court acquitted Edita Pavalkiene, wife of Education and Science Minister Dainius Pavalkis who together with two other people was accused of fraud, reports ELTA. Prosecutors accused the woman of a massive fraud. If she was convicted, she might have spent 3 years in prison. On Jan. 18, Kaunas Regional Court announced the verdict for three defendants - Zenonas Gircys, Valius Knokneris, Edita Pavalkiene. They were facing trial for abuse of official position, forgery of documents and squandering high-value property. However, the court dismissed charges against all three defendants. It said that they did not commit any illegal actions.
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The Parliament, with 69 votes in favor and 6 abstentions, adopted the Resolution of 2013 as the Year of Remembrance of the Vilnius Ghetto, reports ELTA. Bearing in mind that September 2013 marks 70 years since the liquidation of the Vilnius ghetto by the Nazis, the Seimas by adopting the resolution aims to commemorate this day painful both for the state and its people and resolves that 2013 is the Year of Remembrance of the Vilnius Ghetto. The resolution suggests that the government, along with other public authorities, should draft by Feb. 5, 2013, a program of the Vilnius ghetto remembrance events, to coordinate the implementation of the program and to plan funds for the implementation of the program.

According to Culture Minister Sarunas Birutis, his and trade unions’ positions on culture workers’ wages coincide: they should get higher wages, reports ELTA. The minister will start to form a working group which will cooperate with trade unions and relevant institutions. “I am very sorry that the culture sector has been marginalized lately, whereas other sectors managed to gain higher wages. Today the wage gap is enormous; therefore, it is our task not to see culture people emigrating from Lithuania, but rather living a decent life in their homeland and fostering culture for a pay they deserve. We are starting negotiations with relevant institutions and I would like to stress that culture is something that holds on the whole country, while culture workers are responsible for culture dissemination and accessibility in our communities,” the minister said. Currently, there are nearly 4,000 workers in cultural institutions under the Ministry of Culture. In total, there are around 15,000 culture workers in Lithuania.

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