Mikutienė had asked the court to order Adamkus to pay her LTL 200,000 (around EUR 58,000) in non-pecuniary damages over facts in his book which allegedly do not match reality and cause harm to her dignity and honor.
The ruling is not final and appeals to Vilnius Regional Court can be lodged within 30 days.
Mikutienė plans to appeal and threaten to turn to the European Court of Human Rights, if needed.
Mikutienė was once mentioned in Adamkus' book. In page 376, Adamkus tells about events in the fall of 2007 when Viktor Uspackich, leader of the Labor Party, went into hiding in Russia from Lithuanian law enforcement. At the time, members of the Labor Party's political group in the Seimas went to Moscow to meet with Uspaskich and publicly accused Lithuanian law enforcement of attempts to harass their leader. The ex-Lithuanian president claims that the Labor MPs, including Mikutienė, were defending Uspaskich and "were in full blast dishing dirt on Lithuania."
Representing Adamkus, lawyer Kristina Čeredničenkaitė said experts had stated that the above-mentioned statements were an opinion and one is not obliged to retract it. Moreover, the lawyer added, Mikutienė should have, first, asked the publisher to retract the statements.
