A video of a skydiver allegedly jumping from the roof of the Presidential Palace has gone viral on social media. The footage quickly caught the attention of netizens, with many wondering how the man managed to get onto the roof of such a secure building.
A video of famous skydiver Martynas Šnioka has gone viral on social media, in which the man claims to have jumped from the roof of the Presidential Palace.
"I managed to parachute from the Presidential Palace and it wasn't even a very difficult mission," the skydiver says in the video.
M. Šnioka states in the video that he climbed onto the roof of the Presidential Palace through a rain gutter in the back yard of the building and then, with a parachute ready, jumped to Daukantas Square.
"The landing was perfect, because Daukantas Square is huge and I had no shortage of space to land," said M. Šnioka, demonstrating how he was supposedly parachuting into Daukantas Square.
This video of the man received a lot of attention from internet users, some of whom wondered how M. Šnioka managed to climb to the top of the Presidential Palace in the first place.
"You're climbing through a gutter in the Presidential Palace. I wonder how many so-called security guards have lost their jobs," one commentator mused.
"You can climb onto the roof, plant a bomb, and quietly get off without anyone seeing...", another was surprised.
However, another part of the Internet users points out that the video is cropped, and the roof from which M. Šnioka allegedly jumps in the video is different from the roof of the Presidential Palace. In addition, it can be noticed that the landscape behind the man on top of the building is also different.
"I wonder if many believed it," the commentator ponders.
"Don't believe everything you see on the internet," emphasizes another.
The parachute jump from the Presidential Palace was actually staged
Journalists from the news portal tv3.lt also contacted M. Šnioka himself regarding the video that went viral. As the man stated, he has been professionally involved in parachuting since 2012 and performs so-called BASE jumps, and on his social networks, the man has several videos of himself jumping from mountains or various buildings in an attempt to popularize this sport.
"Base jumping itself is from fixed objects - mountains, bridges, buildings, antennas, and the like. Unlike skydiving, where you jump from airplanes or moving objects, here you jump from stationary objects," says M. Šnioka.
True, the skydiver admits that the parachute jump from the Presidential Palace was indeed staged. And such a video, according to M. Šnioka, was a kind of protest action.
"It was like a protest or an outpouring of anger, because at the moment I have two police cases filed against me for skydiving, which rely on material of the same level as in that video."
It was a test to see if they would even try me for this. police "...to file a case for jumping from the Presidential Palace and where are those boundaries? But I also learned today that one of those cases was canceled for logical reasons, because neither my face nor anything else is visible in the video," M. Šnioka commented to journalists.
True, the content creator admits that he has parachuted from buildings in Vilnius. For example, last year he jumped from the television tower during an official event.
M. Šnioka has also performed a jump from the chimney of the Gariūnai power plant. True, the parachutist may be punished for this.
"Once upon a time, the police punished people for getting there, now they apparently decided that wasn't enough, so they're also trying to punish people for the jump itself. I'm trying to fight windmills here and prove that the law does not prohibit skydiving, because it's not regulated in any way, that it's precisely skydiving from objects that is prohibited, because there was simply never a need, apparently, for a law to allow such a thing and mention such a thing," explained M. Šnioka.
Police confirm there was no jump from the Presidential Palace
Vilnius Police Chief Tomas Bražėnas told journalists at the news portal tv3.lt that the police had not recorded an incident in which a person jumped from the roof of the Presidential Palace with a parachute.
The police representative also confirmed that M. Šnioka was punished last year under Article 321 of the Administrative Offenses Code of the Republic of Lithuania.
"On 2024 September 09, the aforementioned person was punished under Article 21 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Lithuania due to the fact that at the address Jočionyų g. 321, Vilnius, the person illegally entered the territory of the Vilnius 13rd thermal power plant, which contains facilities important for ensuring national security, and committed an administrative offense under Article 3 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Lithuania," commented T. Bražėnas.
The representative of the Vilnius VPK also notes that violations of the rules of parachute jumping are provided for in Article 394(2) of the Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania, Parachute Jumping Rules, p. 26.
Presidential Palace: this is a protected object
The fact that there was no parachute jump from the roof of the Presidential Palace was also confirmed by Presidential Advisor Ridas Jasiulionis, who reminded that the Presidential Palace is a facility protected by the Security Service of the Leadership of the Republic of Lithuania.
"We would like to take this opportunity to remind you that the historical park and inner courtyard with a fountain of the Presidential Palace can be visited on weekdays during the warm season from 18 to 21 p.m., and on weekends and holidays from 11 a.m. to 22 p.m.."
"All visitors entering the territory of the Presidential Palace and their belongings are not subject to mandatory inspection by security officers, but this is an object protected by the Security Service of the Leadership of the Republic of Lithuania. Security officers have the right to inspect personal data and items for the purposes of preventing, investigating, detecting or prosecuting criminal acts," R. Jasiulionis said in a written comment.
Author: Arnas Cvirka, TV3.lt
