LITHUANIA AMENDS PROCEDURE FOR NOMINATING PROSECUTOR-GENERAL

The parliament on 28 November voted by 99 to seven (all Conservatives) with two abstentions (both Christian Democrats) to change the rules for appointing the prosecutor general. The prosecutor-general will be appointed by the president with the parliament's approval, rather than by the parliament on the recommendation of its Legal Affairs Committee. Prosecutor-General Kazys Petnycia, who was appointed to a seven-year term in 1997, will have to resign and will serve as acting head until his replacement is appointed. Petnycia has been severely criticized as a tool of the former Conservative government and for his failure to combat increasing crime. Some deputies had called for a no-confidence vote to oust him.