Legal information

Excerpts from the Law on Dignitary Protection of the Republic of Lithuania:

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Article 1. Purpose and Application of the Law

1. This Law shall stipulate the conditions and basis for ensuring protection of protected persons and facilities, acquisition the protected person status, the rights and liabilities of protected persons; the legal basis of activities of the state institution ensuring dignitary protection – the Dignitary Protection Service of the Republic of Lithuania, its aims and functions, financing, as well as the procedure for employment of persons in the Dignitary Protection Service and their dismissal; the status of officers of the Dignitary Protection Service, their pay, rewards, penalties and liability, social guarantees, other specific features of the service in the Dignitary Protection Service and the conditions for the use of coercion.

Article 2. Definitions

16. Dignitary shall mean the President of the Republic of Lithuania, the Speaker of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania and persons acting as President of the Republic, Speaker of the Seimas, as well as substituting for the Prime Minister.

Article 6. Acquisition and loss of protected person status

1. A person attributed to dignitaries shall acquire the protected person status from their appointment or election to the position specified in Article 2.16 of this Law in accordance with the procedure laid down by laws. Protection shall be granted to this person from the date of acquisition of protected person status.

2. Protection of a candidate for President of the Republic shall start on election day upon the emergence of preliminary final election results which give rise to the presumption that the candidate for President of the Republic has won the election.

3. A person attributed to dignitaries shall lose the protected person status upon termination of their powers, except in cases specified by law.

4. Official guests of the Republic of Lithuania and other persons shall acquire the protected person status from the assignment of protection in accordance with the procedure established by the Government or an institution authorised by it.

5. Official guests of the Republic of Lithuania shall lose the protected person status upon leaving the Republic of Lithuania.

6. Other persons who have been granted protection on the grounds and in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Government or an institution authorised by it shall be: (1) spouses, cohabitees/partners, children (adopted children) of the persons referred to in Article 2.16 of this Law, the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Lithuania and diplomatic representatives of the Republic of Lithuania where their security is threatened; (2) former or incumbent members of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, former Prime Ministers of the Republic of Lithuania, incumbent ministers of the Republic of Lithuania, members of the Supreme Council-Restoration Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania where their security is threatened by their current or past political activities; (3) other persons upon their written consent where their security is threatened.

7. Persons referred to in paragraph 6 of this Article shall lose the protected person status from the adoption of a decision to revoke protection in accordance with the procedure established by the Government or an institution authorised by it.

Article 9. Ensuring of Protection of Protected Persons and Facilities

1. The Dignitary Protection Service shall protect the state leaders 24/7. The time of protection of other protected persons shall be established taking into account the necessity and need for ensuring their protection.

2. Protection of protected persons and facilities shall be ensured taking account the established security level. Security levels of protected persons and facilities shall be approved by the Director of the Dignitary Protection Service.

3. To ensure protection of protected persons and facilities, the Dignitary Protection Service shall establish a special regime in the protected facilities, except for airports. The administration of the protected facilities shall be notified by the Dignitary Protection Service about the special regime in the protected facilities. A special regime is established in the airports upon agreement with the administration of the airport, in the representations – upon agreement with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania.

4. A special regime shall be ensured by the following means:

(1) physical protection;

(2) introduction of the accreditation system in the protected facilities;

(3) use of sniffer dogs and technical means intended for detection, identification and neutralisation of arms and/or ammunition, explosives and/or other explosive agents, harmful and/or high-risk materials and prohibited articles;

(4) application of preventive measures and use of technical means intended for protection of protected facilities against unlawful acts;

(5) compilation of the list of persons with restricted access to the protected facilities;

(6) compilation of the list of articles and properties of articles prohibited in the protected facilities.

5. The accreditation system applicable to the staff of the protected facilities shall be established upon agreement with the administration of the protected facility.

Article 12. Tasks of the Dignitary Protection Service

The key tasks of the Dignitary Protection Service shall be to ensure protection of protected persons and facilities, and upon declaration of martial law or during armed defence against aggression (in the event of war), when the Dignitary Protection Service becomes a part of the armed forces, defend the state and fulfil other tasks prescribed by law.

Article 13. Functions of the Dignitary Protection Service

To fulfil the tasks delegated to it, the Dignitary Protection Service shall perform the following functions:

(1) organise protection of protected persons and protect them against attempts on their life and/or health in the territory of the Republic of Lithuania;

(2) eliminate risk factors that may discredit the state leaders;

(3) within the area of its competence, carry out prevention of terrorist acts, violent attacks and other violations of law against protected persons and facilities;

(4) protect the state leaders against illegal collection of information by technical means;

(5) establish and ensure a special regime in the protected facilities;

(6) ensure physical protection of the state leaders outside the Republic of Lithuania. The basic principles of ensuring protection of the state leaders outside the Republic of Lithuania shall be stipulated by international legislation;

(7) carry out criminal intelligence in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law on Criminal Intelligence of the Republic of Lithuania and to the extent specified by the Government;

(8) by controlling access to the protected facilities by the persons lawfully carrying arms, parts of firearms and/or ammunition, provide conditions for leaving the arms, parts of firearms and/or ammunition in temporary custody during the period of their stay at the protected facility in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Director of the Dignitary Protection Service;

(9) upon declaration of martial law or during armed defence against aggression (in the event of war), defend the state as part of the armed forces;

(10) collect, store, analyse and summarise information required for the achievement of its objectives and fulfilment of functions;

(11) protect the premises or buildings of representations and the territory of the buildings, as well as assets therein;

(12) perform other functions established by law.

Article 14. Rights of the Dignitary Protection Service

The Dignitary Protection Service shall have the following rights:

(1) in accordance with the procedure laid down by legislation, receive information necessary for the performance of functions of the Dignitary Protection Service from state and municipal institutions, agencies, enterprises, other legal and natural persons;

(2) enlist the assistance of experts, specialists;

(3) manage personal data, as well as special category personal data where it is necessary for performing of at least one assigned function;

(4) draft and submit to the Government bills and pieces of other legislation in accordance with the established procedure;

(5) carry out ancillary activities required for ensuring protection of protected persons and facilities – organise and carry out maintenance and management of premises, buildings and territories, maintenance of technical systems and transport, catering, other administrative, material and technical provision activities using internal human resources and funds from the state budget for this purpose;

(6) purchase firearms, explosive materials and explosive devices;

(7) perform polygraph examinations of persons in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law on the Use of the Polygraph of the Republic of Lithuania;

(8) organise training and professional development for officers;

(9) cooperate with state and municipal institutions and agencies of the Republic of Lithuania, law enforcement institutions of the Republic of Lithuania, criminal intelligence entities and intelligence institutions, other agencies, associations, as well as institutions, agencies and associations of foreign countries;

(10) in accordance with the procedure laid down by legislation, enlist the assistance of military units to ensure protection of protected persons when the forces of the Dignitary Protection Service are insufficient or inadequate;

(11) where necessary, enlist the assistance of statutory institutions within the area of governance of the Minister of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania, other services and institutions for the achievement of its objectives when the forces of the Dignitary Protection Service are insufficient or inadequate. The Dignitary Protection Service shall head the forces involved and coordinate their work. The procedure for the involvement of officers from the statutory institutions within the area of governance of the Minister of the Republic of Lithuania shall be established by the Government or institution authorised by it;

(12) second officers to protect representations with their prior written agreement.

Article 70. Conditions for Use of Coercion

1. Officers of the Dignitary Protection Service shall have the right to use coercion only as the needs of the service require and only to the extent required to perform an official duty. An officer shall use coercion which is adequate to the circumstances present and proportionate to the danger posed, taking account of a specific situation, the nature and severity of an offence, as well as individual characteristics of the offender. Physical coercion shall be used in cases where psychological coercion proved to be ineffective or where any delay poses an imminent danger to the life or health of the officer or another person.

2. Officers shall have the right to use psychological coercion in cases set out in paragraphs 3 and 4 of this Article or Article 71.2 of this Law.

3. An officer shall have the right to use physical coercion in the following cases:

(1) when defending himself or attempting to defend other persons against an imminent danger to their life or health;

(2) when persons avoid complying with officers’ demands or instructions (in order to force these persons to obey), as well as when detaining persons (provided they resist);

(3) when thwarting an attempt against a firearm, explosives, intermediate weapons, means of communication and aiming at recovering these objects;

(4) when countering attacks against buildings (including premises), vehicles or other assets, territories or liberating the seized facilities;

(5) when entering territories, premises or boarding vehicles, where, according to the data available, hostages may be held or persons who may have committed administrative or criminal offences may potentially hide;

(6) when stopping a vehicle, vessel or aircraft (in the event of official necessity);

(7) when preventing administrative and criminal offences.

4. An officer shall have the right to use handcuffs and restraining devices:

(1) against aggressive persons or persons susceptible to self-harm;

(2) when taking persons who (may have) committed administrative or criminal offences to a police institution or authorities, other institution or agency, searching the abovementioned persons.

5. An officer shall have the right to stop a vehicle by blocking it with another vehicle. Where the vehicle being stopped or persons in that vehicle, by their actions, pose an imminent danger to the life or health of the officer or another person, the officer shall have the right to ram the vehicle being stopped by means of another vehicle or an intermediate weapon intended for that purpose. Where an officer driving a vehicle blocks or rams another vehicle thus posing a threat to the life and health of persons, after carrying out such actions they must immediately take measures to eliminate the effects of their actions.

6. An officer shall have the right to use a firearm as an intermediate weapon by shooting the charges included in the specification of intermediate weapons the effect whereof has been created with an aim of causing no direct danger either to the person against whom a firearm is used or other persons’ life.

7. When no imminent danger is posed to the life or health of officers or other persons, intermediate weapons (except for handcuffs, detention, tying or restraining devices or tools) shall be prohibited:

(1) against persons where their disability is evident or an officer is aware of it;

(2) against persons where an officer is aware of their right to legal immunity;

(3) against women where their pregnancy is evident or an officer is aware of it;

(4) against minors where their appearance corresponds their age.

8. An officer, having used psychological or physical coercion and thus having posed a threat to a person’s life and health, must provide that person the required immediate medical or other necessary aid and take other required measures to eliminate the effects of their actions. A prosecutor shall be immediately notified of the psychological or physical coercion used by an officer leading to a person’s death or life-threatening damage to health.

9. Officers must be specially trained and regularly tested whether they are able to act in situations related to the use of psychological and physical coercion. The procedure for training and testing officers shall be established by the Director of the Dignitary Protection Service.

10. The specification and the procedure for using intermediate weapons shall be established by the Government.

Article 71. Use of Firearms and Explosives

1. Firearms and explosives may be used only in exceptional cases where it is absolutely necessary and where psychological or physical coercion proved to be ineffective or an imminent danger is posed to a person’s life or health.

2. An officer shall have the right to use a firearm against persons in the following cases:

(1) when countering an armed invasion into the territory of the Republic of Lithuania;

(2) when countering armed attacks against protected facilities, diplomatic representations of foreign states and representations of international organisations, consular institutions of foreign states and their territories, as well as residences of the heads of these institutions and their territories, state or municipal institutions of the Republic of Lithuania or their territories by liberating the seized facilities;

(3) when defending themselves or another person against an initiated or imminent dangerous criminal attempt on life or health;

(4) when liberating hostages or preventing hostage taking or a terrorist act;

(5) when detaining a person who potentially committed a criminal offence where an imminent danger is posed to the life or health of the officer or another person;

(6) when detaining a person driving a vehicle who, by their actions, pose an imminent danger to the life of the officer or another person.

3. An officer shall have the right, without posing a direct danger to a person’s life, to use a firearm against an animal, vessel, aircraft or vehicle where an imminent danger is posed to the life or health of the officer or other persons.

4. An officer who intends to use a firearm or explosives must warn of such an intention by giving the person an opportunity to comply with legitimate demands, with exception of the cases when delay poses an imminent danger to the life or health of the officer or another person and such a warning is impossible.

5. Without exposing the valuables protected by law to any danger, an officer shall have the right to discharge a firearm where it is necessary to give a warning signal or call for help.

6. An officer shall have the right to use explosives against persons in cases set out in paragraphs 1, 2 and 4 of Article 71.2. Furthermore, an officer shall have the right, without posing any direct threat to a person’s life, to use explosives to destroy explosive devices, as well as when entering the premises (location) where hostages are held or other criminal acts posing a danger to the person’s life or health are committed.

7. Where there is no imminent danger to the life or health of the officer or other persons, the use of a firearm and explosives shall be prohibited:

(1) in gatherings of people if this may cause harm to outsiders, except for the cases established in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 71.2;

(2) in the premises where explosives, highly flammable substances which may pose a danger to the person’s life and health or public security are located.

8. A officer, having used a firearm or explosives and thus having posed a danger to the person’s life or health, must give that person the required immediate medical or other necessary aid and take other required measures to eliminate the dangerous effects of their actions. A prosecutor shall be immediately notified of a firearm or explosives used by an officer leading to a person’s death or damage to health.

9. Officers must be specially trained and regularly tested whether they are able to act in situations related to the use of firearms or explosives. The procedure for training and testing officers shall be established by the Director of the Dignitary Protection Service. 10. The provisions set forth in Article 71.1, 71.1, 71.3 and 71.7.1 shall not be applicable in cases where a firearm is used as an intermediate weapon.