The new Director of Administration inherited fines for bilingual street signs

The newly appointed Director of Administration at Šalčininkai District Municipality, Józef Rybak, inherited horrendous fines for failure to implement a court ruling to remove bilingual Lithuanian-Polish street signs off private properties in the district; he acquired the fines from his predecessor, Bolesław Daszkiewicz, who a few weeks before retirement had to pay almost 50,000 litas for using Polish language in the public space. 

As a new Director of Administration, Józef Rybak was fined in the cases for failure to implement a court ruling to remove the bilingual street signs held in Šalčininkai and Druskininkai, just as his predecessor was. J. Rybak, who has served as the Director for a month, has already participated in two court cases in Šalčininkai, the next one is being held in Druskininkai on July 4. The court enforcement officers want to fine him for every day he has failed to implement the court’s ruling since March 2013. It means that the fine may rise to 400,000 litas.

It is ridiculous to fine a person who at the time had no legal or physical influence on the presence of the bilingual Lithuanian-Polish street signs on private properties. Several Lithuanian lawyers are willing to defend the rights of the Polish minority; therefore, it is quite possible that during the court hearing in Druskininkai, the Director of Administration at Šalčininkai District Municipality Józef Rybak will be aided by a well-known law firm.

Source: http://l24.lt/pl/spoleczenstwo/item/35972-nowy-dyrektor-administracji-przejal-kary-za-dwujezyczne-tablice

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