“Shocked is too strong to say, but I thought we were applying the same standards for all people accused by law enforcement,” Landsbergis said.
The politician did not want to speculate on who might have voted against removing Gapšys from office.
“I could point my finger [at somebody]. But I am looking for more motives – who has an interest in retaining the vote,” Landsbergis said, adding that voters in the secret ballot could not be traced.
The politician also stated that the Conservative group voted without any agreement in advance.
“There was no such thing as compulsory voting, it is set very rarely,” he said.
Landsbergis also denied claims of some opposition MPs saying that the ruling party might have secretly agreed with the Labour Party not to support the impeachment of Gapšys if the latter party voted to strip Petras Gražulis of his mandate.
Landsbergis did not want to comment on the calls from the opposition to organise early parliamentary elections either.
His response was laconic: “I have given my opinion about dissolving the Seimas once.”
Opposition MP Agnė Širinskienė, chair of the group of non-attached MPs, earlier said she suspected that the ruling party had an agreement not to take part in the impeachment proceedings against Gapšys.
The attitude of the ruling majority shows that the Parliament acts indiscriminately towards large-scale corruption cases, according to Širinskienė.
“The situation was already deplorable in the hall, when the ruling party members did not bother to participate in the process, left the hall. Only a few people came out to speak when I started to call for it. A prior agreement was obvious, and it was indeed noticeable,” Širinskienė told reporters at the Seimas.
“I am only very sorry that we do not tolerate Gražulis pushing the button, but we do tolerate really big political corruption, those high-profile cases,” the politician said.
