MP Remigijus Zemaitaitis broke his oath of office and grossly violated the Constitution with his statements about Jewish people, the Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday.
“Remigijus Zemaitaitis’ actions (…) run counter to the Constitution. With these actions, Remigijus Zemaitaitis 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 Zemakaitis if his mandate, if he does not voluntarily step down. To do that, at least 85 lawmakers need to vote in favor.
On November 21, the Seimas decided to impeach Zemaitaitis, 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.
The conclusion of a special commission, approved by the Seimas, states that Zemaitaitis disregarded the requirements stemming from his oath of office as a member of the Seimas, its constitutional status, the principle of responsible governance and the Constitution that incitement to national, racial, religious or social hatred, violence and discrimination, slander and disinformation are incompatible with the freedom of expression.
For his part, Zemaitaitis called the Seimas impeachment commission unlawful, calling the accusations absurd.
The Prosecutor General’s Office, for its part, is conducting a pre-trial investigation into public ridicule and incitement to hatred against any national, racial, ethnic, religious or other group of people. In February, the parliament stripped Zemaitaitis of his legal immunity so that prosecutors could bring charges against him.
Zemaitaitis is currently running for president.
Source: BNS
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