Lithuanian athletes will be able to receive legal help to defend themselves from sexual harassment, abuse and discrimination.  All legal services will be free and implemented under total confidentiality.

This comes after a joint initiative of the Lithuanian National Olympic committee (LNOC) and local law firm IUSTUM.

“We decided to put forward this initiative because of the recent incidents in the sport world,” said LNOC President Daina Gudzineviciute. “We encourage athletes not to be afraid of seeking help to defend their rights and ensure them that the lawyers will keep all the information in total confidentiality in any case.”

Laimonas Pivoras, a lawyer from IUSTUM, highlighted that this project will put in place a real mechanism on how to defend professional athletes.

“I am confident that thanks to this partnership there will be less occurrences of sexual harassment and discrimination”, said Pivoras.

IUSTUM will analyse the previous cases and then present effective proposals on administrative and organisational measures to stop this kind of violations against athletes.

These services cover all the legal aspects, including free consultations, the preparation of claims for damages, the preparation of statements to initiate pre-trial investigation, as well as the representation in courts.