REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
LAW
ON
THE SEIMAS OMBUDSMEN
Article 1. The Seimas Ombudsmen shall investigate citizens'
complaints concerning abuse of official position or bureaucracy
of state and local government officials.
The Ombudsmen shall investigate citizens' complaints
concerning abuse of official position or bureaucracy of the
following officials: employees of the institutions of State
government and administration, employees of local government
Councils and their departments, or the authorized persons whose
duties embrace the performance of organizational, managerial or
administrative functions.
The jurisdiction of the Ombudsmen shall not encompass
investigation of the activities of the President of the Republic,
the members of the Seimas, the judges of the Constitutional
Court, the Supreme Court and other courts, the procedural actions
of prosecutors, investigators or interrogators, the activities of
the Prime Minister, the State Controller and the Government (as a
collective institution), or local government Councils and their
Boards (as collective institutions).
Article 2. Citizens of the Republic of Lithuania who have an
impeccable reputation, who are trained in law and who have served
in the legal profession or who have been employed in the
institutions of State government and administration for at least
5 years shall be eligible for appointment as Ombudsmen.
Article 3. The Ombudsmen shall be appointed by the Seimas
for the term of 4 years from the candidates nominated by the
Speaker of the Seimas.
If an Ombudsman dies or is removed from office for reasons
specified in Article 4 of this Law, the Seimas shall appoint a
new Ombudsman for the remaining period of office.
The number of terms of office of the Ombudsmen shall not be
limited.
Article 4. An Ombudsman may be removed from office before
the expiration of his term of office if more than a half of the
Seimas members express non-confidence in him.
An Ombudsman shall also be removed from office in the
following cases:
1) on personal request;
2) upon reaching the pensionable age established pursuant to
the Law on Pensions;
3) upon the expiration of his term of office, if he is not
reappointed;
4) if he is elected to another office or transferred to
another job with his consent;
5) if the Ombudsman is incapable of fulfilling his duties
for reasons of health, i.e. if in the course of one year he is
ill for more than 4 months; and
6) if a court sentence concerning him becomes effective.
In the cases prescribed in Par. 2 hereof, the decision
concerning the removal of an Ombudsman from office shall be
adopted by the Seimas by simple majority vote.
Article 5. The Seimas shall appoint 5 Ombudsmen: 2 Ombudsmen
for the investigation of activities of state institution
officials, 1 Ombudsman for the investigation of activities of
military institution officials and officials of institutions
having the status of military institutions, and 2 Ombudsmen for
the investigation of activities of officials of local government
institutions.
When nominating candidates for the office of Ombudsmen, the
Seimas Speaker shall specify the institutions for the
investigation of activities whereof they are appointed.
Article 6. All the Seimas Ombudsmen shall have equal rights
and duties, and each of them shall function independently.
Together with the ancillary personnel, they shall form the
Ombudsmen's Office, which shall be a legal person. Its structure,
staffing, and financing shall be approved by the Seimas.
The Seimas Speaker shall appoint the head of the Ombudsmen's
Office who, alongside with the direct duties of the Ombudsman,
shall also perform necessary administrative functions: on the
recommendation of the Ombudsmen, he shall employ or dismiss from
office deputies of the Ombudsmen, shall employ or dismiss other
employees of the Office, shall monitor their work, shall
represent the Office, and shall organize the preparation of
annual reports.
In the absence of the Ombudsman who is the head of the
Office, the eldest Ombudsman shall substitute for him.
The internal regulations of the Ombudsmen's Office, the
issues concerning the activities of the Ombudsmen as well as
other issues shall be regulated by the Statute of the Ombudsmen's
Office approved by the Seimas.
Article 7. If an Ombudsman is incapable of performing his
duties by reason of illness, departure abroad, or other reasons,
the head of the Office shall empower another Ombudsman to act in
his place.
If an Ombudsman is incapable of impartially investigating a
certain complaint because of relationship by blood or affinity,
or for any other valid reasons, the head of the Ombudsmen' Office
shall charge another Ombudsman to investigate the complaint. In
the event that the head of the Office is incapable of
investigating a certain complaint due to the above reasons, he
must refer it over to another Ombudsman for investigation.
Article 8. The Ombudsmen may not hold any other elective or
appointive office, nor may they be employed in other trade,
commerce or any other government, public or private institutions
or firms, or receive any other remuneration except the salary
established according to their office and remuneration for
creative activities.
Article 9. The Ombudsmen shall be paid a salary which is
equal to that of the Supreme Court judges. The head of the
Ombudsmen's Office shall be paid a salary which is 10 percent
more than the salary of the Ombudsmen.
Article 10. When discharging their functions, the Ombudsmen
shall act in pursuance of the Constitution and laws, and shall be
independent of Seimas members, other institutions, officers or
persons.
Article 11. If an Ombudsman detects other violations which
are not specified in the citizens, complaints, he shall
investigate them on his own initiative provided that the
appropriate issues are within his competence, or he shall refer
them over for investigation to other competent state
institutions.
Article 12. Abuse of an official position shall be the
actions or lack of action of an official whereby the official
position is used not in the interests of the office, or is used
contrary to laws or other legal acts, or in pursuit of mercenary
ends (unlawful appropriation or conveyance to other persons of
property, finances, etc. which do not belong to him, etc.), or in
pursuit of other personal goals (revenge, jealousy, career
advance or provision of illegal services, etc.), as well as the
actions of the official whereby he exceeds his powers, or his
arbitrary actions.
Article 13. Bureaucracy shall be the actions of officials
when, rather than settling matters in essence, they
systematically maintain unnecessary or made-up formalities,
groundlessly refuse to settle issues which are within their
jurisdiction, or delay adopting decisions or fulfilling their
duties. The style of work of officials characterized by failure
to perform the duties established by laws or other legal acts as
well as unsatisfactory performance of such duties shall also be
considered bureaucracy.
Article 14. Every citizen shall have the right to file
complaints with the Ombudsman concerning abuse of official
position or bureaucracy of officials of state or local government
institutions which are assigned to the Ombudsman's competence.
The Ombudsmen shall also investigate citizens' complaints
referred to them by Seimas members, provided that the complaints
correspond to the requirements set forth in this Law.
The Ombudsmen shall not investigate complaints arising from
legal relations of employment and other complaints the
investigation whereof is assigned to the competence of courts.
Article 15. Complaints must be submitted within 3 months
after the action in question was committed.
Complaints filed after the expiration of the time limit, as
well as anonymous complaints, shall not be investigated unless
the Ombudsman decides otherwise.
Article 16. The complaint must indicate:
1) the addressee - the Ombudsman;
2) the complainant's name, surname and address;
3) the name, surname and official position of the officials
against whom the complaint is brought, as well as the name of the
institution where they are employed;
4) the name of the decision against which the complaint is
brought and the date of the adoption thereof, or a description of
the actions complained against, and the time and circumstances of
their commission;
5) the complainant's position;
6) a distinctly phrased application addressed to the
Ombudsman;
7) a list of the documents attached to the complaint; and
8) the date of the complaint and the complainant's
signature.
Attached to the complaint may be:
1) a copy of the contested decision;
2) available evidence or description thereof; and
3) a list of the persons to be questioned as proposed by the
complainant, specifying their address and the circumstances which
may be confirmed by each of them.
Article 17. The Ombudsman shall refuse to investigate the
complaint and return it to the complainant no later than within 7
days if:
1) he makes a conclusion that the matter complained against
is insignificant;
2) the complaint is brought after the expiration of the time
limit for complaints established in Article 15 of this Law;
3) the circumstances referred to in the complaint are not
within the Ombudsmen's competence;
4) an analogous complaint has been investigated or is being
investigated in court; and
5) a criminal action has been brought or preliminary
investigation is in progress on the case concerning the
complaint.
If the complaint is returned to the complainant, grounds for
refusal to investigate the complaint must be specified. In the
cases when the complaint is not within the competence of the
Ombudsmen, the refusal to investigate it must also specify the
institution which the complainant might address on the matter.
A complaint filed repeatedly after investigation shall not
be investigated unless the Ombudsman decides otherwise.
Article 18. When investigating a complaint, the Ombudsman
must ascertain:
1) whether the decisions referred to in the complaint have
been adopted and whether there have been grounds for complaint
(actions or failure to act, or instances of conduct);
2) on what grounds and under what circumstances the
abovementioned was committed;
3) whether the decisions or actions referred to in the
complaint contradict laws and other legal acts, and whether in
the activity of the official there are instances of abuse of
official position or bureaucracy;
4) what officials committed the violations, for what reasons
(or in pursuit of what goals), and what is the culpability of
concrete officials and how the officials who committed the
violation account for their actions; and
5) what facts or evidence confirm the committed violation.
All circumstances clarified and evidence collected in the
course of investigation as well as the legal evaluation of the
investigated activities shall be set forth in the statement which
in all cases shall be signed by the Ombudsman.
If the accusations brought out in the complaint prove
groundless, notification of this shall be given in the statement
which shall also contain the description of the circumstances
which have been established and the characterization of the
investigatory actions which have been carried out.
The statement shall be delivered to the complainant.
Article 19. At the Ombudsman's request, officials of state
and local government institutions must immediately present
information, documents and material which are necessary for the
Ombudsman to carry out his functions.
Article 20. The Ombudsman shall investigate complaints both
on his own and by commissioning his assistants on the staff to
carry out separate investigatory actions.
The Ombudsman shall have the right to enlist the services of
police officers if he or his assistants are hindered from
entering civil or military institutions which are investigated by
them, or if they are refused access to required documents or
material. In said cases, police officers must seize the documents
and material requested by the Ombudsman.
Article 21. The Ombudsman shall have the right to request
that the officials whose activities are under investigation
present a written explanation; he may also question the required
persons. In the event that the Ombudsman is refused explanation
or evidence, a report shall be drawn up thereon.
Upon completion of the investigation, the head of the office
wherein the investigation was conducted as well as the official
whose actions were investigated and the complainant shall be
acquainted with the results.
Article 22. The Ombudsman and the ancillary personnel must
guard State, professional or other secrets which are protected by
law and which come to their knowledge in the course of their
duties. The same pledge of secrecy shall also be incumbent on
persons who are not employed in the Ombudsmen's Office but who
participated in the investigation of the complaint.
Article 23. Upon completing an investigation, the Ombudsman
shall adopt one of the following decisions:
1) to refer the material to investigative bodies if elements
of crime are found;
2) to bring a court action recommending that the court
dismiss from office officials guilty of abuse of official
position or bureaucracy, with the exception of officers who are
appointed by the President or who are appointed or elected by the
Seimas, and to suggest that moral and material damage which the
person suffered by reason of the violations committed by
officials be compensated;
3) to recommend that the departmental collective institution
or head of the institution wherein the investigation was
conducted or a superior institution impose disciplinary penalties
on the officials guilty of violation;
4) to bring the fact of negligence in work, noncompliance
with laws, or violation of professional ethics or bureaucracy to
the attention of the officials concerned;
5) to reject the complaint if the violations specified
therein are not confirmed; or
6) to notify the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania or the
President of the Republic of the violations committed by
Ministers or other officials accountable to the Seimas or the
President (with the exception of officials enumerated in Par. 3
of Article 1).
When adopting decisions on the official's abuse of his
official position or acts of bureaucracy, the Ombudsman may not
revise or revoke the official's decisions. Upon establishing that
while adopting the decision the officer abused his position, the
Ombudsman must apply measures to revoke the decision in the
manner established by law. The Ombudsman's recommendation to
revise the unlawful decision of the official must be examined in
the institution to which the official is accountable.
The decision of the court to remove from office, on the
recommendation of the Ombudsman, officials guilty of abuse of
official position or bureaucracy shall be obligatory to the
employer and shall constitute grounds for terminating the
employment contract.
Article 24. Complaints must be investigated and the
complainant must be given a response no later than within 1 month
of the day of receipt of the complaint. As necessary, the
Ombudsman may extend the period of investigation for up to one
more month. He must notify the complainant thereof.
Article 25. Officials specified in Par.2 of Article 1 of
this Law may address the Ombudsman with a request for a
conclusion on whether or not the decisions will bring about
consequences which later might be appealed against to the
Ombudsman. The Ombudsman may refuse to present such a conclusion.
Article 26. If numerous or flagrant violations of law are
established during investigation, the Ombudsman must notify the
Seimas, the Government, or the corresponding local government
Council thereof.
Article 27. If during the investigation the Ombudsman
becomes aware of shortcomings, contradictions or loopholes in
statutory law or other legal acts, he shall notify the Seimas,
the Government, or the corresponding local government Council
thereof.
Article 28. Each year, the Ombudsman shall submit a written
report on his general activities during the previous calendar
year to the Seimas by 15 March; the report must be made public
and considered in the Seimas. The report shall also contain
generalized information stating in which of the institutions
specified in Par.2 of Article 1 of this Law the greatest number
of violations committed by the officials has been established,
which statutory laws or other legal acts encourage abuse of
official position, and what measures should be applied so that
the abuse of official position by officials would be diminished.
At the same time, the information concerning the activities
of the Ombudsmen's Office presented by the Committee on Human and
Citizen's Rights and Nationalities Affairs as well as proposals
how to improve said activities shall be submitted and considered
in the Seimas.
I promulgate this Law adopted by the Seimas of the Republic
of Lithuania.
ALGIRDAS BRAZAUSKAS
President
of the Republic
Vilnius
11 January 1994
No. I-363
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