Court orders eight-month restriction for anti-gay hate comment

A Vilnius court has imposed an eight-month restriction of liberty on a 62-year-old city resident for publicly inciting hatred against homosexual people because of their sexual orientation, LRT reported, citing the court and the BNS news agency.

The Vilnius City District Court issued the criminal order on September 8 after examining a prosecutor’s application in written proceedings, court spokesperson Giedrius Janonis said.

The man must remain at home between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. during the sentence, unless he is travelling to work or visiting a healthcare or treatment facility. He must also obtain permission from the supervising institution before leaving the city where he lives.

He has 14 days to request a court hearing. If he does not do so, the criminal order will take effect and enforcement will begin. The court had not received such a request by Monday, Janonis said.

According to the GayLine.lt news portal, the case followed a hateful comment posted beneath a Facebook link to an article about a Constitutional Court ruling concerning unmarried families and same-sex partnerships. The comment, posted on April 18 last year, included homophobic slurs and called for gay people to be beaten.

GayLine.lt editor Martynas Norbutas reported the comment to police. The portal said the man also agreed to pay 450 euros in non-pecuniary damages because the article used a photograph from Norbutas’s wedding.