E. Gentvilas: Failure to allow journalists to the border damages Lithuania’s reputation
“Respecting and appreciating the work of the officials, it is certain to understand that Lithuania is being harmed when propaganda reports are shown about us from the other side of the border. No matter who filmed, they filmed as needed to illuminate the Belarusian border services. We are unable to retaliate. We have to think about Lithuania’s reputation, “said the politician.
On Thursday, the Liberal Movement faction invited Rimantas Petrauskas, Deputy Head of the SBGS, and Dainius Radzevičius, Chairman of the Lithuanian Union of Journalists (LUJ), to a meeting.
“We do not know the truth, I, as a person, have the right to know the truth,” Gentville said.
Compared to January 13th
During a faction meeting, he recalled January 1991, when the Soviets used military force against the Lithuanian peaceful population.
“I was here on 13 January (in Parliament – BNS). On January 13, Lithuanian journalists filmed a military attack on Lithuania. Imagine if someone in Lithuania had banned journalists from filming. Gorbachev’s propaganda would have spread around the world. Today, Lithuania condemned those people for the footage filmed by Lithuanian journalists. What are you doing? Being in the ruling majority, I will start demanding the responsibility of Mr. Liubajev, “E. Gentvilas said.
R. Petrauskas asserted that the restriction to access the one-kilometer section of the border from the established state of emergency due to complex security threats.
SBGS: Cameras provoke migrants
“In order to have control in the border section, the fewer people there are, those hunters or mushroom pickers, or other categories, the easier it is for officials to do so. “It is one thing to have ten or 2 illegal people0, and it is quite another that we are watching at the Polish border, when there may be both 500 migrants and 1,000 migrants in a certain area,” he said.
According to him, border guards must control these persons, as well as “eliminate certain threats and factors” that could promote conflict situations on the part of migrants.
“What happens when a migrant sees a camera in front of him? Then the whole group gets emotions, they start to express dissatisfaction, to make conflict situations. How then to react to the return of the border guard, to execute the order of the head of operations to reverse and return the illegal person to Belarus? ”The official said.
The order may change
D.Radzevičius announced that the Lithuanian Union of Journalists had asked the Minister of the Interior to change the order of the commemoration.
“It simply came to our notice then. I very much hope that a solution will be found as soon as possible in order to enable journalists to work professionally, ”said the chairman of the LUJ.
“Journalists today understand security issues and nuances, we do not know of any cases where journalists have obstructed the work of border guards in order to violate the current laws. At least on the part of journalists, we guarantee that we will work professionally and we would very much like the distance of one kilometer from the border, which is specifically forbidden for journalists to work, to be changed as soon as possible, ”D. Radzevičius stated.
According to R. Petrauskas, the order of the Commander of the SBGS could be changed, taking into account the answer at the border.
“It will depend entirely on how the situation develops both at our border and at the Polish border. appropriate decisions will be made in this regard, “he said.
D. Radzevičius also pointed out that prohibitions for journalists can be established only by laws, and not by orders of the head of the service.
“It is very important that border specialists, experts, lawyers and managers understand that orders banning journalists from performing their duties are really indecent and illegal,” said the head of the Union of Journalists.
This year, more than 4.2 thousand people entered Lithuania illegally. migrants.
Lithuania and Western countries accuse the Minsk regime of organizing migratory flows and call it hybrid aggression.
In the previous week, with the concentration of several thousand migrants on the Polish-Belarusian border and their attempts to storm the border, a state of emergency was imposed on the Lithuanian border with Belarus for a month.