Lithuanian Constitutional Court's president welcomes individual complaint amendment

VILNIUS - The Lithuanian Constitutional Court's president says the Seimas' decision to allow an individual constitutional complain will give people more tools to defend their rights and will thus promote civil involvement. 

"The state will benefit from people having as many tools to defend their rights as possible, which, in a way, will encourage their civil involvement," Dainius Zalimas told BNS on Thursday after the parliament adopted a constitutional amendment to allow an individual access to the Constitutional Court. 

He expects that people will feel themselves more involved in the legal system and will take an active interest in the Constitution and their rights. 

The amendment is important for the Lithuanian legal system as well, Zalimas said. 

"There are areas related to important human rights that the Constitutional Court has not yet looked into," he said. 

The court's president said Lithuania had been one of four European states without the individual complaint institute. 

"In this respect, we finally become a civilized European state, because in most of European countries that have constitutional courts, an individual complaint has been in place for a long time," he said.   

The measure is also expected to reduce the caseload of the European Court of Human Rights.