Seimo ethics committee to decide if Žemaitaitis violated conduct norms

The Seimas Ethics and Procedures Committee will meet on Wednesday to discuss and decide whether Remigijus Žemaitaitis, leader of the “Nemuno aušra” party, violated ethical and conduct norms, LRT reports.

Committee chair Viktoras Fiodorovas told ELTA on Tuesday that draft conclusions had been prepared but that opinions among the authors differed, necessitating further discussion. “As far as I can see from the draft, the opinions of those preparing the conclusions differ, so we will have to discuss. I cannot disclose more about the investigation until a decision is made. But the draft conclusions have already been submitted to committee members, and tomorrow the committee will make a decision on the matter,” he said.

The investigation was assigned to conservative MP Dalia Asanavičiūtė-Gružauskienė and social democrat MP Lilija Vaitiekūnienė.

The case stems from a photo Žemaitaitis shared on his personal social media account after a late April protest against amendments to the law governing LRT, Lithuania’s national broadcaster. The image depicted a woman holding a sign with an uncensored message equating Žemaitaitis to a male genital organ. It later emerged that the photo may have been doctored, as the woman in question had actually been holding a different sign during the protest.

MEP Dainius Žalimas filed a complaint with the committee, alleging that Žemaitaitis had deliberately manipulated the image of the protesting woman, replacing the sign’s content with vulgar and demeaning text, and publicly disseminated sexually explicit and derogatory statements. Žalimas also claimed that Žemaitaitis had intentionally incited hostility and ridicule against a specific individual. The MEP has requested not only an investigation into Žemaitaitis’ conduct but also the initiation of charges against him.