- January 28, 2013
- 470
The Court ordered to remove Polish signs in Šalčininkai district municipality
On Monday the Court in Vilnius ordered to remove signs with street names in Lithuanian and Polish in Šalčininkai district municipality. Prime minister, who promised to resolve the issue of double naming of streets, cannot promise any decisions on resolving the problem right now.
“I think that, in the nearest future this issue will not be resolved” – Said for the Press, prime minister – Algirdas Butkevičius.
Minister pointed out that, according to the Lithuanian law, signs with street names, and city names, are to be only in Lithuanian.
On Monday, the Administrative Vilnius Regional Court, came to a decision that signs with names of street in both Lithuanian and Polish in Šalčininkai district municipality, in which Poles constitute 80% of the society, are contrary to Lithuanian law, and therefore the director of the administration of his region – Bolesław Daszkiewicz is obliged to remove the signs.
The ruling is with no legal validity, and it can be appealed within 14 days.
Bolesław Daszkiewicz said, that he will appeal to a higher court
Lithuanian authorities have been fighting with double naming of street for years. Lithuanian ruling on the national language states that, the names of streets and cities are to be only in Lithuanian. The presence of signs with both languages was allowed by a ruling on national minorities, which, however, was annulled at the beginning of 2010. A new ruling on national minorities has not yet been accepted.
Program of Algirdas Butkevičius’s government supports legalization of signs with names in of streets, cities in both Lithuanian and Polish in the areas where Polish minority is strongly present- as in Vilnius region.
Tłumaczenie Jacek Malatyński w ramach praktyk w Europejskiej Fundacji Praw Człowieka, www.efhr.eu. Translated by Jacek Malatyński the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.
