Valstybinė kalba ir su jos statusu susijusių konstitucinių garantijų aiškinimas Lietuvos Respublikos konstitucinio teismo praktikoje

The Constitution adopted by citizens of the Republic of Lithuania in the referendum of 25 October 1992 consolidates guarantees for the protection of the state language and the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania has, on the basis of the Constitution, ruled on a number of constitutional justice cases covering the use of the state language in various areas of public life in Lithuania (such as writing the names of citizens of the Republic of Lithuania in the passport of a citizen of the Republic of Lithuania and implementing the constitutional right of those persons to vote in referendums), in which it interpreted the above-mentioned guarantees and gradually developed the official constitutional doctrine of the protection of the state language and the guarantees applicable to it. This article thus first reviews the interpretation of the status of Lithuanian as the state language (Article 14 of the Constitution) in the constitutional jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court. In addition, two other constitutional guarantees, interpreted in the official constitutional doctrine, concerning the use of languages of national minorities and foreign languages in relation to the constitutional status of the state language are disclosed: a general guarantee of non-discrimination between persons on the basis of language (as enshrined in Article 29 of the Constitution) and a special procedural guarantee of the right of a person who does not speak Lithuanian to a translator in a pre-trial investigation and court proceedings (as enshrined in paragraph 3 of Article 117 of the Constitution). Those constitutional guarantees have been, and continue to be, particularly relevant in ensuring the rights of national minorities in Lithuania, as well as of the increasing number of foreigners residing in Lithuania (both legally present in the territory of the state and third-country nationals who have crossed the Lithuanian state border illegally), thus, also in the increase of the importance of the use of languages other than Lithuanian (i.e. foreign languages) in the life of the state and society. The above-mentioned guarantees can also be seen as significant expressions of ensuring the multilingualism of individuals within the European Union, and also as a means of promoting respect, inter alia, for linguistic diversity within the European Union, as enshrined, among others, in paragraph 3 of Article 3 of the Treaty on European Union. The article draws the conclusion that the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, while protecting and defending the status of Lithuanian as a state language (Article 14 of the Constitution) and also disclosing constitutional guarantees relevant to ensuring the use in Lithuania of the languages of national minorities, ensures that the right of national minorities living in Lithuania to promote their own language, culture, and customs (as enshrined in Article 37 of the Constitution) is not denied. The Constitutional Court has made it clear in its constitutional jurisprudence that this constitutional norm guarantees all ethnic communities living in the territory of Lithuania the preservation of national identity, cultural continuity, and national self-expression. At the same time, the Constitutional Court stressed peaceful coexistence between the Lithuanian nation and other ethnic communities living in Lithuania, as well as the forbearance and tolerance of the people of various nations towards each other. Regarding the writing of the personal names of citizens belonging to national groups in the passport of a citizen of the Republic of Lithuania, the article states that, although it remains significant in constitutional jurisprudence to distinguish between the use of the state language in the public life of Lithuania and in the private life of individuals (Lithuanian is mandatory only in public life in Lithuania), it is particularly important to stress that the entry in the state language in the passport of a citizen may, however, be supplemented by writing the name of an individual in his or her mother tongue in the other entries section of the passport. This is a very important constitutional guarantee for persons belonging to national minorities that the name and surname of those persons may be written in official documents in other, non-Lithuanian, characters and in a non-grammaticised form if they so wish. Thus, it is summarised that the constitutional consolidation of the state language, the requirement to pay regard to the constitutional imperative of the state language, inter alia, when decisions of national importance are made, may not be interpreted as violating the rights of national minorities in Lithuania. On the contrary, in the opinion of the Constitutional Court, it is the requirement, which applies equally to all citizens of the Republic of Lithuania, for the knowledge of the state language and its use in public life that ensures the equality of the rights of all citizens of the state. Since the principle of the state language does not prevent the use of any other acceptable language in the non-public life of Lithuania, and as such use is further detailed by other constitutional provisions (for example, Article 21 of the Constitution, which guarantees, among others, the protection of human dignity (paragraph 2), as well as Article 22 thereof, which enshrines the human right to privacy), in this position, in the opinion of the author of the article, lies the potential to further interpret in the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court the constitutional status of the state language and simultaneously promote multilingualism and respect for linguistic diversity in the state, because Lithuanian society, as a pluralistic democracy, is open to European Union law and to the judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union interpreting it.