Lithuanian court finds Žemaitaitis guilty of inciting hatred against Jews, increases fine

A Lithuanian appeals court on Tuesday found MP Remigijus Žemaitaitis guilty of inciting hatred against Jews and grossly denying the Holocaust, increasing his fine to 10,000 euros, LRT reports.

A lower court had previously imposed a 5,000 euro fine, while prosecutor Justas Laucius had sought a tenfold increase to 52,250 euros. Judge Vitalija Norkūnaitė stated that the leader of the “Nemuno aušra” party had “grossly denied the genocide of the Jewish people, the Holocaust, and committed a continuous criminal act” in his posts.

The ruling takes effect immediately but may still be appealed to the Supreme Court.

Last December, the Vilnius Regional Court ruled that Žemaitaitis had “publicly ridiculed, belittled, and incited hatred against a group of people and its members because of their Jewish nationality” and denied the Holocaust. The criminal case stemmed from his social media posts on Facebook in May and June 2023, as well as public statements, in which he referred to Israelis as animals and claimed that Jews contributed to the destruction of the Lithuanian nation.

Žemaitaitis faced impeachment proceedings over the posts. In April last year, the Constitutional Court ruled that he had violated his oath and grossly breached the Constitution. Following this decision, he resigned his parliamentary mandate to run in presidential and parliamentary elections. He was re-elected to the Seimas in the autumn of 2024.