Moreover, the MEP emphasized that in such situations the Seimas should maintain consistency regardless of the issue at hand.
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“It would seem logical to wait for the final court decision, as we have seen more than one case with politicians where courts of different instances make completely different decisions, and politicians are convicted by one instance and completely acquitted by another,” A. Veryga told Žinių radijas on Wednesday.
“I wouldn’t want to jump to conclusions, no matter how much I dislike all those (Remigijus – BNS) Žemaitaitis statements, and I certainly view them very negatively, but I would like consistency so that the Seimas applies the same standard to everyone, not just to those it likes or dislikes, it probably shouldn’t be evaluated that way,” he said.
The leader of the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union (LVŽS) said he had not yet discussed this case with his party colleagues.
BNS wrote that the Lithuanian Court of Appeal last week found R. Žemaitaitis guilty of inciting hatred against Jews and grossly belittling the Holocaust and imposed a fine of 10,000 euros.
This verdict came into effect on the day it was announced.
The Seimas statute provides that the parliament, “having received a copy of a final conviction court judgment regarding a person’s crime committed before assuming office, when the fact of the crime became known while the person was in office, shall adopt a resolution to initiate impeachment proceedings in the Seimas against that person.”
The Speaker of the Seimas, social democrat Juozas Olekas, also believes that before initiating impeachment, it is necessary to wait until the appeal period for the verdict expires or the case is examined by the Supreme Court of Lithuania (LAT).
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A criminal case was brought against the politician for posts about Jews published in May and June 2023 on the social network “Facebook” and public statements. Among other things, Israel was called animals, and it was claimed that Jews contributed to the destruction of the Lithuanian nation.
In the conviction, the Court of Appeal found that R. Žemaitaitis exceeded the limits of lawful expression with his statements about Jews, systematically and publicly mocked, belittled, and incited hatred against a group of people and individuals belonging to it because of their Jewish ethnicity.
Impeachment had already been initiated against R. Žemaitaitis for the mentioned posts. The Constitutional Court in April 2024 recognized that he broke his oath and grossly violated the Constitution. After this decision, the politician resigned his parliamentary mandate to be able to run in the presidential and Seimas elections and was re-elected to the Seimas in the fall of 2024.
“Nemuno aušra” belonged to the ruling coalition for about a year and a half, from which it was eventually expelled. The “farmers” who remained in power worked together with them.
According to their leader, the party neither rejoices nor mourns that it no longer needs to cooperate with this political force.
“Of course, it’s good not to have to explain other people’s troubles, it’s always better to explain your own work. (…) Those issues, of course, were not pleasant, and I think that all those statements, however we evaluate them, did not bring honor to the coalition partners or to Lithuania,” A. Veryga said.
