Vitalijus Kazakavičius's Lithuanian citizenship may have been revoked last year by mistake, as the authorities failed to find credible evidence of his participation in hostilities on the side of Russia in Ukraine.
After a closed meeting of the Seimas Committee on Human Rights on Wednesday, during which the reasons for the return of citizenship were clarified, its chairman Laurynas Šedvydis told BNS that the Ministry of the Interior conducted an internal investigation regarding Kazakavičius's decision to go to court.
According to the parliamentarian, this indicates that the agency will not be able to "prove that this person fought on the side of Russia."
The news portal "15min" first reported at the end of September that Interior Minister Vladislav Kondratovičius restored Kazakavičius's Lithuanian citizenship.
The minister made this decision in July after a settlement was reached between the individual and the Ministry of the Interior in an administrative case. The District Administrative Court approved this settlement on September 3.
"He did not fight, and why, because there is data about his work, that he goes to work in Lithuania, rests in Lithuania, flies away, comes back, returns, he was in Lithuania," Šedvydis said.
"Perhaps unintentionally, since the surname and name are not rare, the person was confused with another person, and therefore the ministry made what seemed to be a rational decision by concluding a settlement," the committee head explained.
According to the settlement, as reported by the 15min portal, the ministry was also to pay Kazakavičius nearly 3,700 euros in legal costs and 1,000 euros in compensation.
As BNS reported in October last year, Kazakavičius, born in 1984, and Juozas Samuilis, born in 1978, were stripped of citizenship by former Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė after information was received by the Migration Department that these individuals might be serving on the side of Russian troops and fighting against Ukraine.
The Migration Department then stated that it was unable to contact these individuals through official channels; however, the law provides for the possibility of stripping citizenship if a person serves in the service of another state without government permission.
Bilotaitė told 15min that there were no doubts about the information provided by the special services when making the decision to strip Kazakavičius of his citizenship.
In September last year, Lithuanian citizenship was also revoked from Kęstutis Kvitkus — a Lithuanian who served in the Russian army and fought in Ukraine.
According to the Deputy Minister of the Interior, the two other mentioned individuals have not gone to court regarding their citizenship. She also stated that she does not have information from the competent authorities about other Lithuanian citizens fighting on the side of hostile states.
