Vilnius police said on Wednesday they had received a complaint from a member of the public over remarks made by Remigijus Žemaitaitis, leader of the populist Nemunas Dawn party, in which he described Lithuania’s March 11 Act of Independence as a coup and its leaders as “participants in an uprising”.
“The individual identified themselves and reported that Remigijus Žemaitaitis spread information on the OpTV programme that does not correspond to reality about the events of March 11 and, more broadly, about the restoration of Lithuania’s independence,” police spokesperson Loreta Kairienė told the news agency ELTA on Thursday.
She said the information had been passed to Vilnius City’s 3rd Police Commissariat, which is examining the matter and collecting material.
According to the complaint, the nature of the politician’s remarks could potentially fall under an article of the Criminal Code covering public approval of international crimes, crimes committed by the USSR or Nazi Germany, as well as their denial or gross trivialisation.
Such offences are punishable by community service, a fine, restriction of liberty, arrest, or imprisonment for up to two years.
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Remarks on OpTV programme
Speaking on an OpTV programme, Žemaitaitis said the signatories of the Act of the Re‑Establishment of the State of Lithuania should be considered rebels because, in his view, the restoration of independence amounted to a coup that overthrew Soviet rule.
“The signatories of the Act of Independence tomorrow, March 11 – after all, they are participants in an uprising, that is what they should be called. I don’t know why they are called signatories. The restoration of independence was not that – it was a revolution in Lithuania, an organised coup, an uprising. I call them participants in an uprising,” Žemaitaitis said.
Janutienė questioned the claim during the programme, but the MP repeated that it had been “an uprising that overthrew the system”.
“There was an uprising against the Soviet Union,” Žemaitaitis said. “That is the coup that was organised: the Orange Revolution, the Blue Revolution and so on. These are participants in an uprising.”
Although Mr Žemaitaitis stressed that the date should be cherished, his remarks drew criticism.
‘Nonsense’
Birutė Valionytė, president of the Signatories’ Club and herself a signatory of the independence act, told LRT.lt that Žemaitaitis’ comments were “nonsense”.
She said the politician was seeking attention with controversial statements and that it was regrettable they had to be addressed.
She added that the concept of a coup implies unlawful actions, whereas Lithuania’s restoration of independence took place under Soviet law at the time and through elections.
“I think he said it just to sound clever. He talks non-stop – if he thought about it, he’s not that foolish,” she said.
Valionytė also noted that a member of parliament with legal training should consider the possible “legal consequences”. However, she added that the signatories did not intend to contact law enforcement.
“Let the young man calm down [...]. Žemaitaitis will not humiliate us,” she said.
He later told reporters in the Seimas that he would not comment on his remarks.
Appeal to prosecutors
Following the comments, Conservative MP Dalia Asanavičiūtė‑Gružauskienė appealed to the Prosecutor General’s Office of Lithuania.
In a letter seen by the ELTA news agency, she asked prosecutors to open an investigation into possible public approval of international crimes and the denial or gross trivialisation of crimes committed by the Soviet Union.
“In Žemaitaitis’ statements, in which he compares the proclamation of the Republic of Lithuania’s Act of Independence to a coup, one can discern the denial of Soviet crimes and the denial of the Soviet occupation as a war crime and an unlawful act,” she wrote.
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