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Racist LBF president may face jail time (3)

2008-10-30 07:00
BNS | "The Baltic Times"

Agentūros INNA nuotr.

Lithuanian Basketball Federation President Vladas Garastas may face a prison sentence after making a series of racist comments about American players in the Lithuanian league.

"Now about the negro playing in Zalgiris, I would expel him immediately. Zygimantas Janavicius is twice as good as he is... Education, there's no education there, with only the blackies playing," the Lithuanian-language daily Lietuvos Rytas cited Garastas, 76, as saying in reference to Zalgiris players from the United States.

After the interview, the Human Rights Monitoring Institute asked the Prosecutor General's Office to open a probe into the conduct of the LBF president.

Garastas circulated a public apology on Tuesday, saying his emotional statements were caused by poor health and intemperance. "I acknowledge that my comments were inappropriate, insulting and indefensible... I was impulsive and emotional to use the strong-worded statements to describe the persons of a different race," said Garastas.