Lithuanian court delays ruling in Irma Gajauskaitė case

LRT reported that Šiauliai Regional Court has postponed its decision in the appeal of Irma Gajauskaitė, who was convicted of attempting to organise riots and other crimes. The court now plans to announce its final decision on October 26.

Court spokesperson Vytautas Jončas said the case’s complexity, the need to consider recent Supreme Court practice and the requirement to respond in detail to the appeal arguments meant the judges needed more time to prepare their ruling.

The regional court heard Gajauskaitė’s case on appeal after Šiauliai District Court convicted her in February of attempting to organise riots, publicly vilifying a group of people on grounds of nationality, and causing physical pain to a close relative. She was sentenced to 75 days of arrest, and the court ordered the confiscation of a computer and mobile phone it said had been used to commit the crimes.

Gajauskaitė appealed, arguing that she had not received a proper trial and asking for the case to be heard again so she could defend herself in person. She was unable to attend all the hearings because she did not follow courtroom rules and was removed from the courtroom until the proceedings ended.

The criminal case followed a social media video in which Gajauskaitė urged people to use violence against participants and organisers of a parliamentary election debate scheduled in Vilnius in October 2024. She called on viewers to bring baseball bats, pitchforks and scythes to the debate and use them to “settle accounts”, and urged them to “do justice themselves”. The court found that her actions were aimed at provoking riots.

She was also convicted over a video and audio recording posted on social media on November 10, 2024. The court found that she made insulting remarks about Jewish people, spread hatred towards them and belittled the genocide and other crimes against humanity committed by Nazi Germany. She was also found guilty of striking her brother and causing him physical pain.

Gajauskaitė ran for parliament in 2024 on the Union of the People and Justice (centrists, nationalists) list, where she was ranked 42nd.