Lithuanian court rules legislator's hate speech violated constitution

Lithuanian MP Remigijus Žemaitaitis broke his oath of office and grossly violated the Constitution with his statements about Jewish people, the Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday. “Remigijus Žemaitaitis’ actions [...] run counter to the constitution. With these actions, Remigijus Žemaitaitis broke his oath of office and grossly violated the constitution,” Constitutional Court President Gintaras Goda said. Following this ruling, lawmakers will now have to vote on stripping Žemaitaitis of his mandate, if he does not voluntarily step down. To do that, at least 85 lawmakers need to vote in favour. On November 21, the Lithuanian parliament decided to impeach Žemaitaitis, a member of the non-attached group in the Seimas, for his anti-Semitic remarks, and referred his case to the Constitutional Court, asking it to rule on the constitutionality of his statements.
Read the full article here: LRT