Photo courtesy of ZimLive
MINSK, 24 September (BelTA) – Lithuania confiscated 17 Belarusian fire engines meant for Zimbabwe in the Port of Klaipeda in March last year and considers sending them to Ukraine, Zimbabwean news outlet ZimLive reports.
The Lithuanian authorities claimed that the fire trucks were confiscated because of the sanctions against Belarus and the company that shipped them.
“A pre-trial investigation is underway, and the prosecutor has ruled that the 17 vehicles that were heading for Zimbabwe should be confiscated. Their possible delivery to Ukraine is being considered,” said Lithuania's Prosecutor General Nida Grunskienė. She noted that the Zimbabwean authorities were notified about the decision through diplomatic channels. “We are waiting for them to decide whether they will exercise their right of appeal,” Nida Grunskienė added.
Zimbabwe said that the seizure of the vehicles was absolutely ungrounded.
Zimbabwe’s Attorney General Virginia Mabhiza visited Lithuania earlier this year to request the return of the vehicles but was rebuffed.
“We were told that the fire trucks or some of their components were manufactured by a Belarusian company that was under EU sanctions. Zimbabwe claims that we are a bona fide purchaser of the fire trucks,” Virginia Mabhiza told ZimLive.
Zimbabwe government spokesman Ndavaningi Mangwana said that the fire trucks were urgently needed for “firefighting operations, the protection of lives and property, and the preservation of Zimbabwe's World Heritage sites and critical crops that have survived the devastating drought.”
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