Photo: Josvydas Elinskas/ELTA

by Ingrida Steniulienė, November 13, 2024, ELTA

Prosecutor Justas Laucius has asked a Lithuanian court to empower prosecutor general Nida Grunskienė to make a request to the Lithuanian parliament for removing parliamentary legal immunity for Remigijus Žemaitaitis, the leader of the party Nemuno Aušra who faces trial for sowing ethnic discord with anti-Semitic statements he made on social media and to the press.

The prosecutor asked the Vilnius District Court Wednesday to take into account Žemaitaitis is to give his oath of office as a member of parliament Thursday and will gain legal immunity granted to all MPs in Lithuania.

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky attended the hearing and gave testimony. She spoke with reporters after the hearing and noted Jews do not now feel safe in Lithuania. She refuted claims Žemaitaitis made earlier about his own statements, including his posting without preamble of an anti-Semitic Lithuanian song calling on children to beat Jews to death with sticks which he later claimed was a citation of Lithuanian folklore.

After the hearing Žemaitaitis denied his statements beginning in the early spring of 2023 were anti-Semitic, said he had been part of a parliamentary working group which worked on compensation for stolen Jewish communal property and that he had voted in favor of the so-called goodwill compensation package a decade ago. He also said he would give up his parliamentary immunity voluntarily without need for further hearings on that subject.

The Vilnius District Court said they would announce their finding in the case next Monday. Žemaitaitis said he wouldn’t oppose or appeal any finding handed down.

Full story in Lithuanian here.