Summed Up

MINISTER DOWN: Lithuanian Transportation Minister Gintaras Striaukas has resigned. His letter of resignation was handed to President Valdas Adamkus on Jan. 22, the governmental press service said. Striaukas, 40, decided to step down after the Special Investigations Service informed Prime Minister Rolandas Paksas that he had violated public service ethics before taking up the ministerial position, a press release stated. Until his appointment last fall, Striaukas was the director general of the State Road Administration.

CASH SNATCHED: An armed robber stole over 2 million kroons ($121,500) from a bank in the small central Estonian town of Poltsamaa Jan. 22. An unidentified man dressed in dark clothes and armed with a handgun made his way into the Uhispank office shortly after a bank employee opened up the office at about 7:30 a.m. Police was alerted a full hour after the robbery took place. The robber forced the employee to open the safe room. The criminal hit the 31-year-old woman in the face, breaking her nose. It remains unclear how the woman could have opened the safe door alone. Regulations for different parts of the code of the security lock were held by different employees.

LITHUANIANS SHOOT LATVIANS: Three Latvian citizens traveling to Germany were shot during a robbery in Lithuania's central Kedainiai district on the evening of Jan. 22. The three are now recovering in hospital. Police reported door window in the vehicle the Latvians were driving to Germany broke on the Panevezys-Sitkunai road near Kedainiai. When the three Latvians stopped to inspect their vehicle, a Ford Scorpio pulled up. Two unmasked men got out, threatened the Latvians with pistols, and demanded money in Russian. When the Latvians tried to flee on foot their attackers opened fire. The robbers chased the Latvians and stole $1,500.

REQUESTS FOR RIGHTS: The European Court of Human Rights last year registered 183 cases from Lithuania, 80 cases from Latvia, and just 46 from Estonia, according to the latest data about the work of the court. The fact that a case has been registered does not mean it will be considered. The court accepted a total of 10,486 cases last year. The highest number was from Russia, at 1,325, France (1,033), Poland (777), Turkey (735) and Ukraine (728). The number of cases registered by the court last year increased sharply over 1999, when 8,396 cases were registered. In 1998 the figure was still lower, at 5,981.

THAT'S JUST FINE: A Latvian court passed a suspended sentence on the former board member of the Latvian Privatization Agency on Jan. 22, who was charged with exceeding his official powers. Former LPA board member Didzis Azanda was given a suspended two-year jail term and ordered to pay a fine in the amount of 50 minimum wages (about $4,000). In his final appearance before the court Azanda pleaded guilty and asked for a suspended sentence as he had already received the harshest punishment - damage to his career and suffering caused to his family and relatives. Azanda was caught red-handed on July 28, 2000 as he was accepting 3,000 lats ($5,000) in bank notes previously marked by the police from a person involved in the privatization of a state-owned company.

SMASHED WINDOWS: The Latvian General Consulate in St. Petersburg was attacked by unknown hooligans on Jan. 21, Latvian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Liga Bergmane confirmed to BNS. Glass on the entrance doors to the general consulate had been shattered during the night. Police are examining the scene and considering the possibility of opening a criminal case. The hooligans had thrown a stone and a large piece of metal into a glass pane of the consulate. The Latvian Foreign Ministry has already handed a note to the Russian Embassy in Riga on this unpleasant incident. Vandal attacks on Latvian representations in Russia are regular. This is the ninth such incident since December 1999.

MEMORIAL STONE: Hanover Mayor Herbert Schmalstieg will formally unveil a commemorative stone Jan. 26 in the new Jewish cemetery in Riga to honor Jews deported to the Riga ghetto during WW II. The unveiling ceremony will be joined by Riga deputy Mayor Juris Visockis. An address at the ceremony will be delivered by Latvia's chief Rabbi Nathan Barkan. Some 1,000 Jews were deported from Hanover to the ghetto in Riga in December 1941. Many died in the ghetto or later in death camps of Eastern Europe. The delegation from Hanover will also visit the a memorial site in Bikernieki in Riga where Jews were killed during WW II. The site currently is under reconstruction.

PROBE INTO PROSECUTOR: On Jan. 22, prosecutor general Janis Maizitis ordered the criminal justice department to check out facts cited in materials submitted by an MP about possible accounts of former high prosecutor Olgerts Sabansks in Germany's commercial banks. The criminal justice department will assess an application submitted by MP Janis Adamsons about the grounds and legality of closing one concrete criminal case while checking whether Sabansks has received a bribe for closing that case. Adamsons handed to the prosecutor general in a closed meeting of the National Security Committee documents about two more German bank accounts of Sabansks' into which $100,000 were transferred.

KIDNAP ATTEMPT: The Latvian television program "Nedela" reported on Jan. 21 that the daughter of the former general director of the Latvian confectionery company Laima, Ivars Kalviskis, was almost kidnapped on Dec. 14 last year. No official information has been released, and Kalviskis himself is refusing to comment. "Nedela" said that the attempted kidnapping occurred one day before the murder of the alcohol production and retail businessman Dainis Peimanis. The daughter, Aija, went for a walk with her dog in the evening. Men attacked her with mace and tried to drag her into a car, but the girl managed to escape.