Another penalty for Polish signs in the Šalčininkai area

Józef Rybak, the director of the Administration of the Local Government of the Šalčininkai area, like his predecessor in that position, Boleslaw Daszkiewicz, is plagued by the courts because of bilingual plates with street names. The District Court in Šalčininkai on Wednesday, September 3, imposed Józef Rybak a fine of 1,880 lits.

Former director of the Administration of the Local Government of the Šalčininkai area, Boleslaw Daszkiewicz, in May 2014 paid a fine of over 47,000 lits, aimed against him by the court for failing to remove signs with Polish street names from private homes in several towns of Šalčininkai area, The representative of the government in the district of Vilnius stated, however, that although the penalty has been paid, signs in some places still are visible. According to the court, on private homes of the residents of Šalčininkai area, there are still 9 plates, on which next to the name of the street in Lithuanian there is a name in Polish. The case of the plates is then “inherited” by the new director of the local administration.

For each day of the delay in carrying out the decision of the court the bailiff demanded to pay 1,000 litas. The court, however, took into account the fact that Józef Rybak has been working as the director of Administration of the Local Government of the Šalčininkai area only since 2 June 2014. For each day of delay, the court sentenced him to pay 20 litas. In total, Józef Rybak has to pay 1880 litas. To appeal against the decision he has 7 days, to execute the court judgment – a month.

Józef Rybak believes that the bailiff’s requests are unjustified, because as a person that only recently has been serving as the director, he cannot be responsible for the actions of his predecessor. He said that he does not know yet if he is going to appeal against the court’s decision.

Currently, the representative of the government for the district of Vilnius demands from the director of Šalčininkai administration to implement a new mode of marking streets and roads. “The representative of government addressed to me a new proposal. He demands the implementation of the new mode. This new mode – means a post and a plaque on the post, under the responsibility of local government. The government representative says that such labeling of streets will enable to implement the decision of the court,” said Józef Rybak.

Józef Rybak hopes that during the autumn session of parliament a law on national minorities will be adopted, which will determine the problem of the use of minority languages, and names of streets will appear in minority languages on the posts. “We are going to find solutions, because the escalation of tension does not serve anyone,” said the director of Šalčininkai administration. He is awaiting another trial, which will take place on 2 October, this time before the District Court in Druskininkai.

Based on: BNS, 15min.lt