On the need to amend the new Law on Detention in Lithuania 

The petitioner analyses the implementation of the Lithuanian Law on detention of persons who are arrested and/or convicted for a criminal offence, in particular the restriction very often imposed on them to call and/or see other persons.He believes that the ban to make telephone calls or to meet people, in particular family-members, including minor children, often leads to a huge psychological pressure on the persons arrested and to abuses of this exception provision in the Law (Art.22-23) by courts and pre-trial control officers. The exception sets an exhaustive list of cases in which the detainees may be restricted. Prosecutors and other court actors allegedly systematically list them all, what according to the petitioner is legally unsound. The restriction should further at least be bound by a clear time-period, and a specific categorisation of persons who cannot be met or called.The petitioner believes that the interdiction to call or meet relatives, and in particular the minor children of the detainee, is disproportionate, and can, in some cases, be equal to psychological torture. Both for the detainee and the family members.The petitioner refers to the constitutional principle of equality, in such that human right cannot be infringed. He calls for an amendment to the Law, in view of the non-restriction of calling and meeting close family members, in accordance with right to family-life and the rights of the children affected.