Lithuanian court once again leaned over the matter of the Polish-Lithuanian boards

On Tuesday, August 5th, in Šalčininkai took place another court hearing on the boards of the Polish-Lithuanian names of streets in the area of Šalčininkai and on the accountability of the administration of local government financial director of the region –  Jozef Rybak for not carrying out ruling of Vilnius Administrative Court.

The bailiff from Šalčininkai –  Teresa Gierasimowicz agreed that the penalty for the presence of bilingual (Polish-Lithuanian) boards was calculated for administration of Šalčininkai district only until 2 June –  the date on which Jozef Rybak took the position.

Assuming the post of director of the administration of local government J. Rybak, after the former administrative director Boleslaw Daszkiewicz, received an inheritance in the form of high fines. For bilingual signs former director of administration Boleslaw Daszkiewicz paid the penalty of more than 40 thousand litas. J. Rybak is threatened with much higher penalty. Bailiffs are asking him to pay a penalty in the amount of 1 000 litas for each day of delay in execution of a judicial decision concerning the Polish-Lithuanian names of streets in different localities of Šalčininkai district.

The bailiff from Šalčininkai not only asked the court to impose on J. Rybak a  penalty since taking up his duties, but also asked the court to determine the amount of the fine. In her opinion, when determining the penalty should be also taken into account that in many localities bilingual (Polish-Lithuanian) boards have been removed. With this stance also agreed lawyers of  J. Rybak.

With this argument disagreed the proxy of the representative of the Government in the district of Vilnius. He stated that the penalty should include the entire period during which the then Director of Administration B. Daszkiewicz did not execute the judgment.

Court proceedings were resumed and reclassified after J. Rybak took up the position of director of local government administration of Šalčininkai district. Debt collectors demanded payment of the fine for the time when he was still a director. In the case of court of Šalčininkai this is the period from March 2013 to February 2014., In the case of the court in Druskininkai – this is the period from September 2013. The baliff of Šalčininkai changed her mind, but it is unclear whether the bailiff of Druskininkai will do the same.

The next meeting of Šalčininkai district court on a lawsuit against J. Rybak is scheduled for 26th August.

As has been repeatedly reported, for the Polish-Lithuanian signs with street names posted on private estates residents,  high financial penalties are inflicted on directors of local government areas of Vilnius and Šalčininkai, of which the majority of the population are Poles. Poles are also directors of administration.