Lithuanian prosecutor moves against MP over alleged hate speech

Lithuania's Prosecutor General Nida Grunskienė has asked lawmakers to strip MP Petras Gražulis of legal immunity to face trial over alleged anti-LGBTQ+ hate speech.

"The currently available data allow us to reasonably believe that by speaking publicly at the Seimas after a plenary session when the civil union bill was discussed, MP Petras Gražulis allegedly committed a criminal offence,” the Prosecutor General's Office said.

On May 26, 2022, after the Seimas gave its initial backing to the civil union bill, Gražulis met several representatives of the LGBTQ+ community as he was leaving the plenary session hall and called them degenerates and said they should get treatment.

According to prosecutors, his actions fall under hate speech, which carries a sentence of up to two years in prison or a fine.

Gražulis has been questioned as a special witness as part of the ongoing pre-trial investigation, and the Seimas needs to lift his legal immunity for his further prosecution. Under the Constitution, an MP cannot be prosecuted, arrested or otherwise deprived of their liberty without the consent of the Seimas.

This is the second time that the prosecution service has asked the parliament to strip Gražulis of his legal immunity. He is a member of the non-attached political group in the Seimas.

Gražulis was also stripped of his legal immunity in December 2022 to face charges of abuse of office in the Judex case.

Gražulis helped Judex, a Kaunas-based frozen food company, to solve its problems after Russian officials found listeria in its products in 2015. In June 2022, the Lithuanian Court of Appeal fined the politician more than 15,000 euros for that and ordered the confiscation of over 3,300 euros. The Supreme Court of Lithuania is expected to deliver its final verdict in this case on November 7.

In addition, impeachment proceedings have also been launched against Gražulis for deliberately voting for another MP.