Artūras Zuokas (born 21 February 1968) is a Lithuanian politician. He is the Chairman of the political party Lithuanian Freedom Union. He was the Mayor of Vilnius from 2000 to 2007 and again from 2011 to 2015. From 2008 to 2009 he was a member of the Seimas (Lithuanian Parliament). Zuokas graduated from the first secondary school in Jonava. He then worked as an independent reporter for Independent Television News as a war reporter in Iraq, where he taped the bombing of the Baghdad TV Tower during the First Gulf War. In August 1991, he brought recently captured footage from the site of the Medininkai massacre to the official meeting between the president of the United States, George H. W. Bush, and Soviet Union president Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow, which caused concern from the American side about the use of force against freedom-seeking nations. Election as Mayor, 2000 Artūras Zuokas was one of the campaign managers for the Liberal Union of Lithuania in the 2000 Seimas elections. His party placed second, winning 36 seats. It formed an alliance with the New Union (Socialliberals) and Rolandas Paksas (the leader of the Liberal Union and Vilnius city municipality mayor, became the Prime Minister). There were two candidates from the Liberal Union for the vacant mayor's post: vice-mayor Algirdas Kudzys, and Zuokas. On 15 November 2000, the council voted 27–18 to make Zuokas, aged 32, the youngest mayor in the history of Vilnius. Election as Mayor, 2011 In March 2010, Zuokas expressed his willingness to become the mayor of Kaunas, the second-largest city in Lithuania, but only if Lithuania would introduce direct elections. Before the municipal election of 2011, famous English actor Jeremy Irons expressed his support for Artūras Zuokas and invited people to vote for him in a short video about his experience in Vilnius. After a successful 2011 municipal election campaign in February, Zuokas once again became Mayor of Vilnius as his party won the most votes and gained 12 seats in the 51-seat Vilnius city council. Allegations of corruption VEKS 2009 cultural events cost nearly 300 million LTL, way more than what was spent by Riga, Latvia with 24 million EUR and more than any other city. Preparation project was led by Artūras Zuokas and it was characterized by lack of transparency, surprising expenses and inflated prices. In 2009, Zuokas was convicted for organising the bribery of a fellow politician