Parliament refuses pensions to apparatchiks

Lithuania's Parliament has rejected a contentious amendment to the country's pension law aimed at topping up the pensions of anti-Nazi war veterans who went on to top posts in the Communist Party or technical positions in repressive institutions such as the KGB.

Several hundred former political prisoners, deportees and anti-Soviet resistance fighters gathered outside Parliament to demonstrate against the amendments proposed by the leftist Social Democrat Party, which is one of the two parties in the governing coalition.

Once inside, protesters bellowed their contributions to the debate from the public gallery.

The vote was tight, with 34 MPs voting in favor of the amendment and 40 against and seven abstentions. The amendment's defeat was sealed by lack of support from the Social Liberals, the Social Democrats' coalition partners.

"We'll raise the tricolor over Gediminas castle, and we'll pray passionately at Ausros Gate," sang the opponents in the gallery on seeing the results.

Parliamentary opposition to the amendment was led by Conservative party leader Vytautas Landsbergis, who received cheers of support.

"The proposed changes mean that only those World War II veterans who were KGB officers could not receive state pensions," said Landsbergis.

"It means that the leftists want to give state pensions to drivers who were driving Soviet killers to places of execution, to those technical workers who were throwing from trains the corpses of deportees who died of starvation, and to those who were cleaning up blood in KGB prison cells after tortures."

He then rounded on the Social Democrats: "Some of you still have mothers alive. Don't put shame on them. Let's kill this snake."

But Social Democrat MP Ceslovas Jursenas was unrepentant: "It is a pity. World War II veterans are respected throughout Europe. Of course some of them were involved in dirty activity but, for example, a World War II veteran who was a Communist Party secretary in some provincial town just for one month cannot receive a state pension now."

The split between the Social Democrats and the Social Liberals reflects a feud which has broken out since Social Liberal Erikas Tamausauskas was forced out of the mayor's office in the second largest city, Kaunas, by an unholy alliance made up of the Social Democrats, the Conservative Party and the Center Union on May 29.

The Kaunas city court has ruled illegal the removal of Tamausauskas, who was in hospital at the time. Analysts predict he will be succeeded by the Center Union's Arvydas Garbaravicius, and that the Social Democrat-Social Liberal coalition which runs the country will survive the row.

Court proceedings over Tamauauskas' fate are continuing.