The US State Department’s annual human rights report on Lithuania has drawn attention to the ongoing case against Remigijus Žemaitaitis, chairman of the Nemunas Dawn party, over allegations of inciting hatred toward Jews and denying the Holocaust.
Released Tuesday, the report said Lithuania’s overall human rights situation remained unchanged in the past year.
The State Department noted that in April 2024, the Constitutional Court ruled Žemaitaitis had violated his oath of office and grossly breached the constitution with social media posts about Israel and Jews. The court found his remarks ignored the constitutional imperative to foster national harmony and failed to uphold his duties as a member of parliament.
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The court stressed that while the constitution guarantees freedom of belief and expression, it prohibits degrading human dignity, violating equal rights, inciting discord, or showing disrespect or hatred.
Following the ruling, Žemaitaitis resigned from parliament to run for president and for a seat in the legislature.
Prosecutors also investigated his comments, concluding that he encouraged hatred, insulted people of Jewish ethnicity, and publicly approved of Nazi Germany’s crimes. The case is now before the Vilnius Regional Court.
The charges stem from Facebook posts and public statements in May and June 2023 in which Žemaitaitis criticised Irael’s policies in Palestinian territories and called Israel “animals”. He also claimed Jews contributed to the destruction of the Lithuanian nation.
Žemaitaitis has denied wrongdoing, saying his criticism was directed not at Jews as a people but at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over military actions in Gaza. He maintains his statements did not incite hatred.
Beyond this case, the 2024 U.S. human rights report on Lithuania noted that, while the country maintains strong democratic institutions and a robust human rights framework, enforcement of labor protections lags, labor code procedures made it difficult for some workers to exercise the right to strike. and workplace harassment, or mobbing, remains an issue.
As in previous years, the report also pointed to Lithuania’s continued restrictions on Russian and Belarusian state-controlled media, both in broadcasting and online, as well as its limited access to and the asylum practice of turning back irregular migrants at the Belarusian border.
Updated: additional details from the report on issues related to labor laws, freedom of speech, and the provision of asylum.
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