Baltics in Brief

BUREAUCRAT FAILS DIPLOMACY TEST: Advisor to the state secretary at
the Latvian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Andris Staris, former
deputy chief of the Economic Police, Mihails Belkins has made verbal
threats on the life of the director of the U.S.-Baltic office of the
human rights protection organization "Union of Councils", Michael
Avrutin, the newspaper "Neatkariga Rita Avize" reports today. Avrutin
claims in his petition to the police that Belkins has already been
blackmailing him since 1995, demanding capital shares in Avrutin's
company "Nelda". In addition, Belkins has demanded considerable sums
of money several times - more than $1,000. According to Avrutin, he
has not agreed to the demands and once he ran into Belkins in Old
Town Riga, who had said to him: "You are a dead man!" Avrutin then
turned to Latvian law enforcement institutions. According to the
paper, Belkins denies the allegations made by Avrutin. The case has
been turned over to State Police at this time and a pre-trial
investigation is under way.

ALLEGED GANGSTER GUNNED DOWN: Twenty eight year old Gintautas
Zukauskas, identified as a member of notorious gang of brothers
Zukauskai in Klaipeda, was attacked by gunmen in the stairwell of his
house early on Jan. 14. The first to hear shots were dwellers of the
house who found the bleeding and heavily injured man in the
stairwell. The medics rushed him to the Red Cross hospital to perform
surgery. Zukauskas was diagnosed by doctors as having absorbed four
bullets in the head and chest area. The ringleader is now being
treated in the intensive care unit of Klaipeda hospital. The
circumstances of the murder attempt are being investigated by the
organized crime service and the prosecutor's office.

SURGEONS HOPE PATIENT HAS HEART: Lithuanian patient Mantvydas
Kavaliauskas, 20, who underwent heart transplantation on Jan. 13 was
moved from the operating theater to intensive care the next
afternoon, a spokesman of the health ministry informed ELTA. The
transplant operation was performed by the surgeons of Vilnius
University hospital Santariskiu Klinikos. According to information
released by the head of clinic Prof. Vytautas Sirvydis, the
transplanted heart of the 20 year old patient was already beating but
still inadequately to sustain his life. Therefore, the patient is
being supported by artificial blood circulation and artificial lungs.
Kavaliauskas was a pioneer patient in Lithuania in whom doctors
implanted an artificial heart. However, last month the complications
and onset of infection worsened the state of his health.

ESTONIAN FINDS A POTENTIAL CURE FOR PARKINSON'S: A medical team in
Los Angeles, led by Estonian cell-biologist Toomas Neuman, was the
first in the world to transplant brain cells to a patient ill with
Parkinson's disease who has now improved, the Estonian daily, Eesti
Paevaleht, reported on Friday. Neuman, who graduated from the Tartu
University as a biologist, heads the research department of
neuro-biology in the Cedars-Sinai medical center in Los Angeles. The
team grows brain-cells from nerve system core cells. Transplanting
the brain-cells eases difficult brain diseases like Parkinson's
disease that up to now has been considered incurable.

DON'T CZECH US OUT: Estonian Foreign Ministry intends to issue a note
to the Czech Republic over the latter setting extra requirements for
Estonian tourists, The Estonian daily, Eesti Paevaleht reports.
Starting Jan.1 Czech border guards will demand two passport pictures,
health insurance, filing of personal forms, possession of 2,000
kroons($133) per day and proof of a hotel reservation from Estonian
tourists. Estonia's opinion was that the Czech side was violating the
visa-free travel agreement, according to an official based in Prague.
The visa freedom agreement, that was concluded back in 1993, states
that the parties have to inform each other when the order of visiting
the first country changes, but the Czech Republic has not sent any
official notes on the topic, the official said.

LATVIAN PILOTS AWAIT JUSTICE IN INDIA: The Calcutta Court has
postponed reading its verdict on the five pilots jailed in India
until Jan.31, LETA was informed by the Alexander Komissarov, attaché
from the Russian Consulate General in Calcutta. The pilots are
accused of delivering arms to insurgents in West Bengal in 1995. If
the court decides that the pilots did not commit a criminal offense,
the trial will be over and the pilots will be released. If the men
are found guilty, the trial will continue and the defendants will be
read sentences in the near future, said Komissarov. If Indian
authorities prove that the five men are guilty, they could receive
the death penalty.