For journalists & researchers
Media & Press
Resources for journalists, legal scholars and policy researchers covering the rule of law in the Baltics.
Press contact
Journalists, legal scholars, and policy researchers may contact our editorial team directly:
[email protected]We respond within 48 hours. For interviews with the protagonists, please indicate the publication and proposed timing.
Key facts for journalists
- 01A Vilnius prosecutor froze €700,521.07 + PLN 12,945.32 of UAB Clean and Solve’s assets on 27 May 2025 — no formal indictment filed since.
- 02The freeze concerns gamma-butyrolactone (GBL), an EU REACH-registered substance with thousands of legitimate industrial uses.
- 03The goods never physically entered Lithuanian territory — they moved Germany → Czech Republic → Netherlands.
- 04The owners are Dutch citizens. One holds Lithuanian citizenship obtained in 2016.
- 05Four successive Lithuanian judges upheld the freeze without engaging with EU-law arguments raised by the defence.
- 06After each unsuccessful appeal, additional charges were added: money laundering (Nov 2025), narcotic precursor (May 2026).
- 07The freeze was extended to November 2026 — making 18+ months without indictment.
On-the-record quotes
On paper, an EU member state. In reality, a system that resembles the Soviet Union more than the European Union.
— Editorial, Lithuania Legal Watch
The prosecutor’s office has had eighteen months to file a charge. They have not. They have instead extended the freeze.
— Editorial, Lithuania Legal Watch
When EU-law arguments are met with silence rather than reasoning, that is not judicial review. That is a Kafka trap.
— Editorial, Lithuania Legal Watch