Žemaitaitis appeals convictions over anti Jewish hate speech

The Lithuanian Supreme Court received an appeal on Thursday against the convictions of MP Remigijus Žemaitaitis for inciting hatred against Jews and grossly belittling the Holocaust, LRT reported.

Žemaitaitis’s lawyer, Vytautas Sirvydis, filed the appeal with the court. The defence is asking the Supreme Court to review and overturn the lower courts’ rulings and terminate the criminal case against Žemaitaitis, Supreme Court representative Tautvilė Merkevičiūtė told BNS.

Žemaitaitis, the leader of the Nemunas Dawn party, has described the court decisions in his case as political.

Under the Lithuanian parliament’s rules, the Seimas must begin impeachment proceedings after receiving a final conviction for a crime. However, no impeachment process has been launched, even though the Court of Appeal’s ruling took effect immediately.

Žemaitaitis has said lawmakers should wait for the Supreme Court’s decision. He has also said he does not intend to resign from parliament and would face a vote if impeachment proceedings were initiated.

In July, the Court of Appeal found that Žemaitaitis had used posts on public platforms to grossly belittle the genocide of the Jewish people and the Holocaust, constituting a continuing criminal offence.

The appeals court increased his fine from 5,000 euros, imposed by the first-instance court, to 10,000 euros. It said his Facebook posts deliberately created ethnic discord and opposition between Lithuanians and other communities by broadly blaming Jews for the historical process of the destruction of the Lithuanian nation.

The court also found that Žemaitaitis had systematically distorted historical facts and used offensive labels and dehumanising metaphors.