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Seimas Ombudsman Normantas, Ukrainian Ombudsman Denisova and Speaker of the Seimas Viktoras Pranckietis
The Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner, upon her visit to Lithuania, at the meeting with the Speaker of the Seimas Viktoras Pranckietis, expressed sincere thanks to the Lithuanian Parliament for the support to the Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sencov, who was imprisoned in Russia. Recalling a resolution "On Oleg Sencov and other political prisoners" adopted by the Sėimas of the Republic of Lithuania on 27 June 2018, the Ukrainian Ombudswoman asked the Speaker of the Seimas to discuss this issue at the forthcoming meeting of OSCE Parliamentary Chairs.
During the meeting with the Ukrainian Ombudswoman, the Seimas Ombudsmen Augustinas Normantas and Raimondas Šukys pointed out that ombudsmen are intermediaries between the people and the authorities, and the Ombudsman should, therefore, be given an opportunity to meet with the citizens of her country on a humanitarian basis. The Seimas Ombudsmen promised the Ukrainian Ombudsman support at the international organisations in solving the issue of visiting Oleg Sencov and other political prisoners in the Russian Federation.
"This issue needs to be considered by the European Ombudsman Institute (EOI), whose member among others is the Ombudsman of the Russian Federation," said the Seimas Ombudsman, Mr Augustinas Normantas, who is also a member of the EOI Board.
The Seimas Ombudsmen's Office together with the other Lithuanian organisations implements the Twinning project of the European Union "Implementation of the best European practices with the aim of strengthening the institutional capacity of the Apparatus of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights to protect human rights and freedoms“, which aims to strengthen the skills of the staff of the Ukrainian Ombudsman institution.
During her visit to Lithuania, the Commissioner for Human Rights of Ukraine also met with Dainius Žalimas, the Chairman of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania.
Source: The Seimas (Parliamentary) Ombudsmen's Office, Lithuania
