In Landsbergis' opinion, Dabašinskas, after his slander in the wake security officer Vytautas Pociūnas' death, should have been removed from important decisionmaking. Landsbergis stressed the need to identify the person who nominated him for the Estonian presidential award.
"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 was awarded as having given his life for Lithuania, while officers of the Lithuanian State Security Department slandered their dead colleague," he told BNS on Thursday.
"Such people should not continue working in the institution or anywhere near state affairs. However, Dabašinskas went away for a while and now he is back. He even works in the Parliament as adviser to former Healthcare Minister and doubtlessly influences or heads security officers who were involved in the campaign and are still at the department," said the MEP, former chairman of Lithuania's Supreme Council – Reconstituent Seimas.
Dabašinskas is currently adviser to Parliamentary Vice-Speaker Algis Čaplikas, the leader of the ruling Liberal and Center Union.
On 1 February, Estonia's President Toomas Hendrik Ilves signed a decree to award Dabašinskas with a 3rd degree Order of the Cross, in recognition of his drafting and implementing Estonian-Lithuanian cooperation projects.
"Estonia has been deceived and Lithuania is being humiliated. It should be established who made the proposal to the Estonian government and President's office. It is necessary and I hope the organizer of the award for Dabašinskas will be made known," Landsbergis told BNS. He has received the Estonian order in 2002.
Pociūnas died in early hours of 23 August 2006, after falling out of a ninth-floor window of a hotel in Brest during a service trip. The Prosecutor General's Office has twice listed the death as accident, but pre-trial investigation was re-opened by court order. Homicide is among the versions now.
Estonia's response
Estonia's Presidential Service said on Friday that Lithuania's former security officer Dainius Dabašinskas was awarded a state order for his successful bilateral defense cooperation.
"Awarding Dainius Dabašinskas an order of merit was the decision of the president of Estonia, and it was based on the successful defense cooperation between Estonia and Lithuania," office of the Estonian president told BNS.
The statement came in response to the astonished reaction of Lithuania's former head-of-state, MEP Vytautas Landsbergis, to the award.
