May 7, 2020
To:
Evaldas Pašilis, prosecutor general, Republic of Lithuania
Renatas Požėla, commissar general, Police of the Republic of Lithuania
STATEMENT
On anti-Semitic comments on the internet site www.lrytas.lt
The Lithuanian Jewish Community (LJC) constantly investigates information about possible expressions of anti-Semitism and provides the corresponding information to international organizations battling anti-Semitism on expressions of anti-Semitism and reactions from state institutions to these.
Last week the internet webpage www.lrytas.lt published a three-part feature called “Lietuva ir Holokaustas: vietoj žaizdų gydymo – nesibaigiantys traukuliai” [Lithuania and the Holocaust: Endless Seizures Instead of Healing Wounds]. (URLs to these texts:
https://www.lrytas.lt/lietuvosdiena/aktualijos/2020/05/01/news/lietuva-ir-holokaustas-vietoj-zaizdu-gydymo-nesibaigiantys-traukuliai-i-dalis–14716722/,
https://www.lrytas.lt/lietuvosdiena/aktualijos/2020/05/02/news/lietuva-ir-holokaustas-vietoj-zaizdu-gydymo-nesibaigiantys-traukuliai-ii-dalis–14716738/,
https://www.lrytas.lt/lietuvosdiena/aktualijos/2020/05/03/news/lietuva-ir-holokaustas-vietoj-zaizdu-gydymo-nesibaigiantys-traukuliai-iii-dalis–14716742/
).
All three parts were abundantly commented in the comments section.
After carefully reading the content of the comments, the LJC believes they contain anti-Semitism and statements which sow ethnic discord, openly calling for discrimination against a group of people based on religion and ethnicity, and that this is a public disgracing of people of Jewish ethnicity. A negative view of Jews is expressed, Jews are condemned, and this is an insult to Jews (including statements insulting the Jewish people).
We therefore request you initiate a pre-trial investigation under article 170 of the criminal code of the Republic of Lithuania.
We would also like to inform you the LJC has reported these comments to organizations which defend human rights based in Lithuania and around the world. The comments come on the eve of May 8 and 9 when the world marks the end of World War II. The LJC is holding a commemoration of victims of the Nazis on this occasion at the Jewish cemetery on Sudervės road in Vilnius. Ambassadors from the United States, Germany and Israel are scheduled to attend and they will also be informed of these comments inciting anti-Semitism and ethnic discord.
The LJC is grateful that there is a working group constituted by the Interior Affairs Ministry operating in Lithuania for encouraging an effective response to hate crimes and hate speech. In its work the working group adheres to the laws of Lithuania and workplace regulations and follows the principles of collegiality, good will, flexibility, openness and transparency.
Nonetheless, we shouldn’t hold out hope the working group will yield results if not every crime committed is appropriately registered and investigated, and if the offender goes unpunished. The criminal code and the criminal procedural code of the Republic of Lithuania are practically dysfunctional when it comes to these kinds of crimes, something we have witnessed by looking at the statistics and taking into account our earlier correspondence.
In this given case, however, we are simply addressing you with our statement for the registration and investigation of a specific crime.
Respectfully,
Faina Kukliansky, chairwoman
Lithuanian Jewish Community
Comments
Part I
ANTANAS: Jews, get out of Lithuania
KELKIS DEDE HITLERI [RAISE UNCLE HITLER FROM THE GRAVE]: so many cockroaches are multiplying … [send the] Jews to the oven[s] …
PRAKEIKTA ZYDYNA [DAMNED JEW]: to the ovens … there will be kosher heating
KELKIS DEDE HITLERI [RAISE UNCLE HITLER FROM THE GRAVE]: so many Jewish slugs … there is lots of work [to do]
Part II
WOLFAS: I hate Hitler. Why? Because he shot Jews… Shot and shot, but didn’t shoot all of them, bastard!!!
JEWS: to the ovens
PART III
PROUD TO BE A MEMBER OF THE JEW-SHOOTING NATION: all Jews to the ovens ….god-damned unneeded parasitic nation
