In his words, although Lithuanian people are resentful over the State Security Department's actions following Vytautas Pociūnas death is understandable, it does not deny Dabašinskas' contribution to cooperation with foreign secret services.
Lucas tells the story of the Estonian spy in his new book which is set to hit bookshop shelves next week.
"The whole Pociūnas affair is extremely unfortunate, it's a big scandal, we don't have truth and I can understand that inside Lithuania people may have very strong views about it," Lucas, editor of the international section of The Economist told BNS.
"I am not disputing Mr. Landsbergis's disapproval of the VSD behavior in the Pociūnas affair or even Mr. Dabašinskas's role in that. But the fact remains that as a public servant of Lithuania in it's foreign security relations Mr. Dabašinskas did a very good job and he is immensely admired and respected in Estonia for his cooperation with the Estonian security and intelligent services in the Herman Simm case. I think it is entirely reasonable that Estonia should give him a medal," he added.
Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves' decision on February 1 to award Dabašinskas with a top Estonian national award has caused controversy. The President's Office stated that Dabašinskas had been awarded for his contribution to successful bilateral defense cooperation.
"Dabašinskas' award for merits was the Estonian president's decision which was made following the evaluation of Lithuanian-Estonian successful defense cooperation," the Office said in a statement.
Lithuanian MEP and former leader Vytautas Landsbergia said last month he was aghast over the honorable Estonian award going to Dabašinskas. The politician believes, Dabašinskas should have been removed from decisions that are important to Lithuania. Landsbergis said it was necessary to identify the person who proposed him for the Estonian order.
"I was struck by the news, as the name is known very well in Lithuania, especially after the death of Vytautas Pociūnas, after the slander. Immediately after his death, the officer is awarded as having died for Lithuania, and officers of the Lithuanian State Security Department slandered against their dead colleague," he told BNS.
Dabašinskas is currently an adviser to Algis Čaplikas, leader of the Liberal and Center Union and deputy speaker of the Seimas.
"Estonia has been deceived and Lithuania is being compromised," Landsbergis told BNS.
Pociūnas died in the early hours of Aug. 23, 2006 after falling out of a ninth-floor window of his hotel in Brest during a service trip. The Prosecutor General's Office has twice listed the death as an accident, however, the pre-trial investigation was resumed by court order following demands by Pociunas' relatives and public organizations. Homicide is among the versions now.
Dabašinskas' name was also mentioned in the conclusions of a parliamentary investigation into CIA prisons in Lithuania. It was stated that with the then Director General of the Lithuanian State Security Department Arvydas Pocius' knowledge, Dabašinskas allegedly had given U.S. officials unimpeded access to CIA-related aircraft on at least two occasions.
The parliament has proposed the Prosecutor General's Office launching an investigation into whether actions by Mecys Laurinkus, Pocius and Dabasinskas did not have signs of misuse of official power or excess of authority. The Prosecutor General's Office later concluded there was no basis for bringing them to criminal liability.
Simm, who was in charge of protecting states secret at the Estonian Ministry of Defense, was detained in September, 2008, and charged of having revealed state secrets to Russia since 1995. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison.
