“VSD has the right to review that information and evaluate the possibility of declassification, there are certain procedures, they are now in the process, all information is being evaluated,” D. Jauniškis told reporters on Thursday.
“As much as it can be declassified, I think it will be made available to the public,” he asserted.
On the other hand, the head of intelligence emphasized that only those data will be declassified, the disclosure of which will not harm either the service or the state.
“But according to the law, if it relates to certain (intelligence – BNS) methods or certain information, we have every right not to provide it. The Constitutional Court has clarified that the public’s right to know is not absolute,” said D. Jauniškis.
“We must understand that (…) the disclosure of certain information can severely damage the reputation of both the Security Service and the state, and can severely paralyze intelligence work,” he added.
The parliamentary commission of inquiry, which is investigating the information of former VSD official Tomas Gailius regarding possible violations in 2018-2019, when checking the supporters and people from the environment of the then presidential candidate Gitanas Nausėdas, applied to the VSD with a request to declassify some of the documents.
The commission requests the declassification of the testimony given by the head of the VSD, D. Jauniškis, his deputy, Remigijaus Bridikis, and the spokesperson of the VSD, T. Gailius, at the commission’s closed meetings.
According to the chairman of the commission, Vytautas Bakos, these testimonies are important for the public interest.
The temporary investigation commission was established by the Seimas last November.
It also investigates possible illegal influence on intelligence activities, possible interference in election processes during the 2019 presidential elections, possible illegal support for this campaign, possible violations of the whistleblower’s rights, possible illegal influence in imposing sanctions on Belarus.
VSD reporter T. Gailius told the commission that he suspected that his managers might have committed a disciplinary violation or even a crime when they commissioned an inspection of G. Nausėda’s environment and possibly passed on the inspection results to third parties who do not have the right to work with classified information. That’s why T. Gailius said that he turned to politicians and became a speaker.
VSD deputy director Remigijus Bridikis, who testified to the commission, confirmed that he had received the list of G. Nausėda’s team from VSD general director D. Jauniškis, handed it over to his subordinate, T. Gailis, who later became a reporter, and instructed to check the persons on it.
He also said that it was a verbal order to check the persons on the list in order to assess possible threats and risks to the participants of the election process, and that the checks were focused “not on a specific person, but on the processes”.
The general director of VSD has testified that during the last presidential elections, all candidates were checked, and he received the specific list with the list of G. Nausėda’s environment “from a human source”.
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2024-04-14 12:15:30
