by Milena Andrukaitytė, BNS, June 28, 2023

Lithuanian prosecutor general Nida Grunskienė says the decision on whether controversial statements by Lithuanian MP Remigijus Žemaitaitis might have sown discord can only be made after receiving conclusions from experts.

“There are two pre-trial investigations launched. They haven’t been combined at this time, tasks have been assigned to experts and in one case expertise has been requested from the Court’s Expertise Center in order to determine if the statements by the member of parliament is incitement to hatred of a certain group of people. Only after receiving the finding, the expertise protocol, can the prosecutor make a decision,” Grunskienė told reporters at the Lithuanian parliament Wednesday.

The prosecutor general initiated investigations into Žemaitaitis’s statements about Jews on facebook. He made several anti-Semitic statements there, criticized Israeli-Lithuanian friendship and the Lithuanian prime minister’s recent visit to Israel and accused Jews of deporting and committing genocide against Lithuanians, among other statements. His Freedom and Justice Party rescinded his membership because of statements made about Israel destroying a Palestinian school funded by the EU.

Full story in Lithuanian here.