„If the final decision of the appellate court is that he is guilty, there are grounds for impeachment, and the Seimas will have to organise impeachment proceedings. All the grounds would be there,“ Saulius Skvernelis, leader of the Democratic Union Vardan Lietuvos (In the Name of Lithuania), told ELTA.
Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, leader of the Liberal Movement, echoed this sentiment.
„If the decision becomes final, it is clear that impeachment proceedings must be initiated. This is not a matter of interpretation,“ the politician explained.
„If we had to vote on this today, it is obvious that the ruling party would turn against its own. And this is not just any party, but a coalition partner that is very dear to the Social Democrats,“ she emphasised.
Calls on Social Democrats to decide on the future of the coalition
In response to the first-instance court's decision, opposition representatives are calling on the Social Democrats to take responsibility and decide the future of the coalition.
„It is the responsibility of the Social Democratic Party before the rule of law, before the state, to decide how to proceed with its coalition partner,“ said Skvernelis.
For her part, Čmilytė-Nielsen doubted whether the Social Democrats would be willing to change the coalition's composition.
„After today's decision by the court of first instance, we can state once again that Lithuania is governed by a coalition that includes a politician who has been convicted of hate speech on ethnic grounds. This is a disgrace. At any other time in the history of Lithuanian parliamentarianism, this would have meant an urgent meeting of the ruling coalition and the expulsion of the partner from it. Still, not in this case,“ the liberal politician asserted.
At the time, Conservative Party leader Laurynas Kasčiūnas emphasised that further assessment of the political situation was in the hands of the Social Democrats.
„All political responsibility lies with the Social Democratic Party. The Social Democrats can say goodbye to Žemaitaitis and terminate the coalition agreement with him. That's the least they can do. However, it seems that they have developed a kind of Stockholm syndrome, where they have taken Žemaitaitis hostage and are starting to like it,“ Kasčiūnas told journalists in the Seimas.
ELTA reminds us that on Thursday, the Vilnius Regional Court found the leader of the Nemuno Aušra party guilty of anti-Semitic statements.
He was fined EUR 5,000. If the verdict becomes final, the politician will have to pay it within two months.
The court ruled that, as a state politician, Žemaitaitis used language that was derogatory to human dignity in May and June 2023 and incited hatred against a group of people because of their Jewish ethnicity. The case examined and evaluated seven posts published by the politician on social media, as well as a public speech by the party leader in parliament.
The verdict is not final and may be appealed.