Lithuania’s Vilnius Regional Court has found MP Remigijus Zemaitaitis, leader of the far-right Dawn of Nemunas (PPNA) party, guilty of antisemitic hate speech, BNS reports. The court stated that Zemaitaitis had “publicly mocked, demeaned, and encouraged hatred” towards a group of people because of their Jewish ethnicity and “grossly minimised” the Holocaust in an “offensive and insulting manner.” The court concluded that the public statements were not constitutionally protected free speech as claimed by Zemaitaitis. The court imposed a fine of EUR 5,000 on the MP, whose PPNA party is part of the current coalition government. Zemaitaitis insisted that the court ruling was a “politicised decision” and vowed to appeal.
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