Palewicz: We will definitely appeal against court’s decision; ruling on bilingual inscriptions in Šalčininkai is announced

The District Administrative Court in Vilnius pronounced that the administration of the Šalčininkai district municipality should remove all plates with Polish street names on them within a month.

“The director of administration in Šalčininkai district municipality illegally and unjustly refused to carry out the order received from the government’s representative in Vilnius district to change plates with street names into those which are in conformity with regulations and legislative acts enacted in the Republic of Lithuania,” the ruling states.

The court demanded that the orders received from the government’s representative in Vilnius should be carried out within one month the verdict comes into force.

Zdzislaw Palewicz, the mayor of Šalčininkai district municipality, does not agree with court’s decision. “I haven’t read the ruling. I can’t comment on this matter yet, but we will certainly appeal against the court’s decision to the supreme court,” said Zdzieslaw Palewicz for PL DELFI. The Šalčininkai municipal government has 14 days to appeal against the decision.

The court started to examine the case when the complaint was filed by the government’s representative in Vilnius district. The representative believes that the placement of bilingual plates with street names is at variance with Lithuanian legislation.

According to the Law on the State Language the street names should be written only in Lithuanian.

Source: http://pl.delfi.lt/aktualia/litwa/palewicz-na-pewno-zaskarzymy-decyzje.d?id=60532951

Tłumaczenie Patrycja Olszówka w ramach praktyk w Europejskiej Fundacji Praw Człowieka, www.efhr.eu. Translated by Patrycja Olszówka the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.