Algirdas Paleckis

Algirdas Paleckis (born 20 May 1971) is a Lithuanian diplomat, politician, columnist, leader of the political movement The Dawn of Justice. Šiauliai district court convicted Paleckis for spying for Russia in July 2021. The conviction was upheld by the Lithuanian Court of Appeal in May 2022.

Biography

Algirdas Paleckis was born on 20 May 1971, in Bern, Switzerland, the son of Soviet diplomat Justas Vincas Paleckis. His grandfather was Justas Paleckis, a journalist and a foreign correspondent in 1930s who later became a communist and the speaker of the Supreme Soviet of Lithuanian SSR following the Soviet occupation.

In 1994, Paleckis graduated from Vilnius University with a master's degree in journalism and international relations.

Career

From 1997 to 2001, Paleckis was the 1st secretary at Lithuania's Permanent Mission to the EU in Brussels, becoming head of the West European Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania in 2001, a post in which he remained until 2003. From 15 November 2004, to 17 April 2007, he was a member of the Lithuanian Parliament. Later, Paleckis was an assemblyman of the Council of Europe from 24 January 2005 to 5 May 2007 and worked as a Vice-Mayor of Vilnius from 2007 to 2008. In 2008 he founded the Front Party and was its leader until November 2014.

According to investigation by the State Security Department of Lithuania, Paleckis was supported by the business group MG Baltic, led by Darius Mockus, throughout his political career and maintained ties with the group even after the establishment of the Front Party.

He is fluent in Lithuanian, English, French, Russian and German.

Criminal prosecution

Denial of Soviet aggression against Lithuania

In 2011, Lithuanian authorities prosecuted Paleckis for his denial of Soviet aggression against Lithuania. As part of his journalistic research, Paleckis claimed he had found several witnesses and ballistic assessments that seemed to indicate that there were Lithuanian government snipers on the roof near the Vilnius TV centre who were shooting civilians with hunting rifles during the January Events. He stated that "it appears that in January 1991 our own people were shooting at their natives". He also alleged that these snipers were placed there by the Lithuanian government of the time to generate nationalist sympathy. A Vilnius court vindicated Paleckis in January 2012, but the prosecution appealed and Paleckis was sentenced to a fine of 10,400 litas (€3,100) on 12 June 2012.

His father Justas Vincas Paleckis said he is "shocked" by his son's statements and that lately they're finding less and less common ground.

As of early 2024 he is being tried again for public approval of international crimes, after he gave a phone interview claiming that the Russian invasion of Ukraine happened because of the "U.S. desire to squeeze it like a lemon". The prosecutor also states there is enough data to state that Paleckis was defaming the post-war period of Lithuanian partisan armed resistance against the USSR.

Spying for Russia

He was arrested again in 2018 on suspicion of spying for Russia. The Lithuanian authorities argued against granting bail on the grounds that Paleckis had lived in Moscow, had connections there and could flee from the country. Paleckis was released on supervision in April 2020. On 27 July 2021, Šiauliai district court found Paleckis guilty preparing to commit the crime of espionage and sentenced him to six years in prison. The conviction was upheld by the Lithuanian Court of Appeal on 6 May 2022. The Supreme Court of Lithuania confirmed his sentence, although shortening it to 5 years and 6 months in prison.

Freedom of Speech issues in Lithuania

When Paleckis's prison term was nearing its end, authorities, citing in the verdict text the need to prevent him from speaking out, came up with two new charges based entirely on his speech monitored in prison. He was charged with two new alleged crimes.

The first was the "slander" of Laurynas Kasčiūnas as a Nazi. The former defense minister is a popular member of the Lithuanian parliament ("Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats") and had been a member of the neo-Nazi party "Lithuanian National Democrats" (LNDP) until 2002. The second criminal charge concerned the "slander" of the so-called post World War II "Forest Brothers" (Lithuanian: Miško broliai), who carried out up to 25,000 murders against civilians they regarded as representatives of the Soviet regime and their family members, but – like Bandera's OUN fighters in Ukraine – are considered national heroes, even though some of the "Forest Brothers" (including the most prominent leaders) were allegedly recycled, escapee Nazi war criminals who began murdering Jewish neighbors in the week of 22 June 1941.

Paleckis's conviction for calling Kasciunas a Nazi was overturned, but an initial acquittal for "insulting the Forest Brothers" was converted into a guilty verdict (raising the moral issue of double jeopardy in legal circles). The crimes of the "Forest Brothers" are documented in the "Memorial Book for the Victims of Partisan Terror" (Lithuanian: Partizanų teroro aukų atminimo knyga (ISBN 978-9986-478-29-4 , © Povilas Masilionis, 2011 (pratarme) © Ausra Capskyte, 2011 © Politika, 2011; only the English language introduction and the first few pages of the list of names are available online. The University of Vilnius investigated the brutal actions of the Forest Brothers and the varying perceptions of the group by current Lithuanian society in a publication by Professor Violeta Davoliute.

Paleckis is currently in Kaunas prison. The fact that his sentence was extended for "criminal expression" was reported on March 13, 2025, by the TV3 website and the Bernardinai internet portal . As of June 2025, no known human rights or freedom of speech (and/or press) organization has publicly raised the issue of the conviction and imprisonment of an EU citizen on the basis of opinions on historical matters.

Researches into the Holocaust-collaborator history of a number of prominent members of the "Forest Brothers" (FB) have been published in a series of articles by Lithuanian researcher Evaldas Balčiūnas . In a number of cases, the result has been removal of public-space plaques honoring various of their leaders as national heroes, most prominently the decision to remove the plaque commemorating Jonas Noreika on the Wreblewski Library of Sciences in Vilnius (Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences (Lithuanian: Lietuvos mokslų akademijos Vrublevskių biblioteka), as confirmed by the US State Department . In other cases still pending, mainstream Western voices as the United States ambassador to Lithuania HE Cara McDonald called for an end to the honoring of Juozas Krikštaponis as well as Noreika, as reported by the national tv website LRT.
Paleckis's views on the "Forest Brothers" are in some cases congruent with United States policy, rendering his imprisonment all the more inexplicable in an EU country.

Political views

Paleckis is no longer affiliated with any political party. He was last a member of the Socialist People's Front, a democratic socialist political party. It was formed from a merger of the Lithuanian Socialist Party and his Front Party. He left the party in 2016, citing differences with party leadership.

Paleckis is critical of Lithuanian capitalism, writing in 2018, "they promised us Sweden, but the banana republic came out. I will add: only instead of dictators – clowns."

Russia

On 15 March 2005, Paleckis worried that democracy was failing in Russia, stating, "Russia during this period lost its way a little because of the track and was a little tempted by authoritarian rule. They must be returned before it is too late."

Awards and honors

*:
** Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania (2004) (deprived on 2013)

*:
** Knight of the Legion of Honour (2002)

Bibliography

* Antrankiai minčiai ("Handcuffs for Mind"). Auth. Algirdas Paleckis. Vilnius, 2021. ISBN 978-609-475-702-0

Electoral history

2016 Lithuanian parliamentary election

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paleckis, Algirdas
1971 births
Living people
Vilnius University alumni
Members of the Seimas
21st-century Lithuanian politicians
Lithuanian politicians convicted of crimes
People convicted of spying for the Russian Federation
Knights of the Legion of Honour
People from Bern
Lithuanian diplomats