Two Lithuanians File Lawsuit Against Lithuania

Two Lithuanian men were fired from the jobs because of their previous employment at USSR's KGB

The European Court for Human Rights is currently pending two lawsuits filed by two former agents of the Soviet KGB against Lithuania, NEWS.ru.com wrote with reference to the information previously published in the Lithuanian newspaper Respublika.

Two Lithuanian residents Kjastius Jiautas and Juozas Sidabras accuse the Lithuanian leadership of violating their rights. In 1999 they were fired from their jobs: Jiautas was fired from the Lithuanian Office of the Prosecutor General and Sidabrad - from the fiscal police service. The two men were fired because of their previous employment at the Soviet Union's KGB.

The two Lithuanians were dismissed in 1999, when the law about the estimation of KGB and current activities of its former agents came into effect. The law pronounced the USSR's KBG the "criminal organization" and banned former KGB agents from working on state positions, in state security agencies, in the diplomatic field, in education and several other fields.

Kjastius Jiautas and Juozas Sidabras addressed to the European Court for Human Rights in 2000. Official spokesman for the Lithuanian government at the court, Danute Jochene said, the Lithuanian government had not received the official information about the suit from Strasbourg yet.

After the European Court for Human Rights makes an official announcement about accepting the suit, the sides have three months to become reconciled, NEWS.ru.com said.