Remigijus Žemaitaitis, leader of the Dawn of the Nemunas (Nemuno Aušra) party, said on Monday that he has appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against the impeachment proceedings against him in the Lithuanian parliament.
The former MP said he is asking the court to look into whether his rights to freedom of expression were violated while assessing his statements about Israel and Jews in Lithuania.
In his petition to the ECHR, Žemaitaitis argues that Lithuania violated his right to freedom of expression when the Seimas set up an impeachment commission over his statements and later asked the Constitutional Court to evaluate those statements, and when the court subsequently ruled that he had violated his oath as an MP.
The politician claims that he was persecuted by state institutions for expressing his views on the Israel-Hamas conflict that were unacceptable to the political elite.
He also says that he has fallen victim to “cancel culture”.
“I feel it is my duty to fight for the right to have an opinion and to express it. And not only for myself. Above all, for the people of Lithuania not to be afraid to speak out and criticise the government,” Žemaitaitis said.
The Constitutional Court ruled earlier this year that Žemaitaitis broke his oath as an MP and violated the Constitution by making antisemitic statements. He avoided impeachment by resigning from the Seimas in April.
In his Facebook posts in June 2023, Žemaitaitis expressed anger over Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė’s visit to Israel and accused Jews of deporting and killing Lithuanians. Commenting on the news of Israel’s demolition of a Palestinian school, he likened Israel to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is waging war in Ukraine, and quoted an antisemitic folk counting-out rhyme.
Žemaitaitis denied that his statements were antisemitic, but the Constitutional Court ruled that they “contain, among other things, degrading descriptions of people belonging to an ethnically distinct group and quote a counting-out rhyme [...] depicting violence against Jewish people, mocking them”.
The court stated that by using such descriptions, quotes, and statements that incite intolerance between ethnic minorities and deny the Holocaust, the politician demonstrated hatred toward an ethnically distinct group.
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