VILNIUS - The Lithuanian Lustration Commission has discovered that the Prime Minister's adviser, Vilius Kavaliauskas, cooperated with the KGB, the daily newspaper Lietuvos Rytas reported on Jan. 16. The official has since taken the decision to court.
Kavaliauskas' former relations with the KGB were first unearthed by Arvydas Anusauskas, a well-respected investigator of Soviet repressive structures. The PM's adviser worked in a Soviet news agency in the United States, and often participated in KGB operations, Anusauskas said.
He allegedly sent art collectors living in the United States back to Lithuania, along with their art, and used these homecomings as an example of Soviet propaganda. Kavaliauskas also had to file analysis about Lithuanian figures living abroad, the investigator said.
The Premier's adviser is currently avoiding the accusations. When asked by Lietuvos Rytas about his court hearing, Kavaliauskas hung up the phone.
Director of the Lithuanian Center for Genocide and Resistance, Dalia Kuodyte, who heads the Lustration Commission, has also refused to comment on the subject.
Under state law, Kavaliauskas has the right to take the matter to court within two weeks. The commission will not take any sanctions against the person concealing his Soviet past, and his name will not be publicized.
Lithuania's Parliament is currently discussing amendments to the Lustration Law, and has suggested allowing another year for former KGB collaborators to come forward.
If those accused admit to their past, all personal data will be classified.
The amendments are due to be addressed during an extraordinary Parliamentary session, probably later this week.
Parliamentary Vice-Chairman Ceslovas Jursenas denied reasoning by some politicians that the amendments were designed to take care of former KGB agents close to the ruling Social Democratic Party and currently holding high state posts.
"I do not know anything about Kavaliauskas. The amendments are proposed by Parliament's National Security and Defense Committee chairman and other lawmakers. Furthermore, the opposition proposed that the law should be discussed immediately after the New Year. So this is the voice of the nation. My task is to include the matter into the agenda," said Jursenas.
The Lustration Commission has so far closed 95 cases, and found 39 people guilty of collaboration with Soviet secret security services.
