VILNIUS - Former head of state Rolandas Paksas appeared before a Vilnius court on July 15, marking the start of a protracted criminal case against him that has drawn shockingly little attention in Lithuania.
Following months of investigation, the Office of the General Prosecutor brought charges of divulging state secrets against Paksas, who became the first-ever impeached European president when he was removed from office by the Seimas (Lithuania's parliament) on April 6.
Paksas has denied the charges and predicted that he would be acquitted.
While six witnesses were interrogated at the hearing, further meetings related to the case in the Vilnius District Court were postponed until Sept. 28, when three additional key witnesses, including former State Security Department Chief Mecys Laurinkus, should appear to give their testimony.
According to deputy prosecutor Mindaugas Duda, his office will take the opportunity afforded by the extended recess to strengthen the state's case.
"The witnesses who did not come still have to be questioned. We will also become even more acquainted with information related to the case," Duda told The Baltic Times.
If convicted, Paksas could face up to three years' imprisonment, a fine or other sanctions.
Reversing a trend of non-cooperation with prosecutors in the course of the investigation, Paksas appeared at the court hearing in accordance with the law. He was not, however, called upon to testify.
Also in attendance was Yuri Borisov, Paksas' chief financial sponsor during his successful 2002-2003 presidential campaign.
Paksas is accused of making Borisov aware of an investigation against him when the then-president was given a confidential file containing material about Borisov gathered by the State Security Department.
This alleged transfer of information was the basis for one of the three counts on which the Seimas voted to oust Paksas from the nation's top office.
In spite of the illegal favor, Paksas is suspected of having done for his erstwhile supporter, Borisov had nothing good to say about the former president, telling reporters after the hearing that he had little faith in Paksas.
Shortly before the impeachment, Paksas announced he would appoint Borisov as a presidential adviser, only to rescind the offer under pressure from members of his policy team.
Regardless of the intrigue, members of the legal community said that chances of the country's former head of state being convicted were high.
"All I know about the specifics of the case I have learned through the press, but it seems to me that the prosecutors would not have taken on such a high-profile case if they weren't quite sure of their case," said Kazimieras Motieka, a prominent Vilnius lawyer.
Prosecutors submitted over 1,200 pages of material they had collected for the case, including transcripts of interrogations they had conducted with Paksas himself.
Perhaps even more surprising than the prospect of a defamed president suffering a criminal conviction is the apparent disinterest the Lithuanian public has taken in the phenomenon.
National dailies provided relatively scant coverage of the trial's beginning, and the country's leading television news programs aired the story in a correspondingly low slot in their news column. Likewise, many in the local journalistic community only learned of the trial through reports in the international press.
Onlookers conjecture that anemic reporting of the trial is backlash to the months of constant news on the presidential scandal that ended in Paksas' impeachment.
"Paksas' star has set," said Motieka. "People are tired of him. They were up to their necks in news about him for all that time, and now they just want a rest from him. The country has moved on."
Regardless of the trial's outcome, Paksas has been banned from holding strategic high offices in the future as per an earlier ruling from the Constitutional Court. He is currently officially unemployed.
