Английская Википедия:Eduardas Vaitkus
Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Infobox officeholder
Eduardas Vaitkus (born 3 October 1956) is a Lithuanian doctor, professor, political activist and chairman of the Centre of the Lithuanian People's Resistance to Occupation.[1] He is an independent candidate in the 2024 Lithuanian presidential election.
Biography
Vaitkus was born in Kaunas on 3 October 1956. He finished the Kaunas Institute of Medicine (now a part of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences) in 1979 and worked in the Kaunas branch of the Institute of Endocrinology and Hormone Chemistry of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences from 1980 to 1983.[2] He has been teaching at the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (until 2010 – at its predecessors) since 1983, and has been a professor of the hematology clinic since 2002.[3]
Since 1983, he has worked as a doctor in the Kaunas Clinical Hospital (formerly the Kaunas Red Cross Hospital). In 2011, he was accused by the hospital's temporary director Kęstutis Mazurkevičius of installing a covert listening device in his office.[4]
From 2005 to 2006, he was an advisor to Minister of Health Žilvinas Padaiga, who represented the Labour Party in the Brazauskas Cabinet II.[3] He has authored over 40 scientific articles and has been awarded the Cross of Officer of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas.[2]
He is married to Asta, a doctor of medicine and rheumatologist, and has three children.[3]
Political career
Vaitkus has run for election to the Seimas two times, with the Labour Party in the 2008 parliamentary election,[5] and with the Way of Courage in the 2020 parliamentary election,[6] both times unsuccessfully.
Since 2021, he has actively campaigned against vaccination and participated in numerous protests. On 18 September 2021, speaking in a protest organized by Astra Genovaitė Astrauskaitė in Vilnius, he stated that "vaccinating children is a crime. The ratio of benefit to harm is not entirely clear and it is more likely that the harm is greater".[7]
In July 2021, he established the Centre of the Lithuanian People's Resistance to Occupation (Шаблон:Lang-lt), a political group unifying several anti-establishment and pro-Russian figures, and was one of the founders of Dawn of Justice, an unregistered party led by Algirdas Paleckis.[8] His political group claims that the Government of Lithuania has violated the constitution and has established a dictatorship, and calls for the establishment of a special counsel system, referendum on membership in NATO and the European Union, and immediate peace between Russia and Ukraine.[9]
He has called to deport Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya to Belarus, described the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a proxy war instigated by the United States and stated that Lithuania joined the European Union "in a fraudulent manner".[1] He has been accused of pro-Russian views by other anti-establishment and Eurosceptic leaders, such as Nida Vasiliauskaitė, who claimed that he intends to "turn Lithuania into a Russian protectorate".[10]Шаблон:Unreliable source?
On 6 September 2023, he announced his run for President of Lithuania, stating that he intends to establish a "dictatorship of law" and unveil agents of foreign intelligence services in the Lithuanian government.[11]
References
