The prosecutor’s office terminated the investigation into the obstruction of the LGBTIQ rally without finding any insolent behavior

However, prosecutors have handed over the investigation material to the police, who will continue to investigate the incident.

Last September, several dozen representatives of the LGBTIQ community protested once morest a discriminatory provision of the Law on the Protection of Minors, which repeatedly restricted information related to the LGBTIQ community.

A few dozen people with Lithuanian flags, opposing the protest, also came to the protest. One of them is Antanas Kandrots, nicknamed Cellophane, who is on trial in the riots case. Former Seimas member Petras Gražulis, famous for his anti-LGBTIQ statements, joined the protest.

A. Kandrotas later walked over the rainbow-colored LGBTIQ flag spread on the grass, the participants of the rally were poked with wooden stakes, and finally the rally had to be stopped.

“In the prosecutor’s opinion, in this situation, the application of repressive criminal proceedings, criminal law as a last resort (ultima ratio) would be clearly unfounded and excessive,” Elena Martinonienė, head of the Communications Department of the General Prosecutor’s Office, told BNS.

According to her, the pre-trial investigation was terminated following evaluating all the data collected during the investigation.

According to E. Martinonienė, the prosecutor’s office recognizes that the behavior of the persons who disrupted the rally is not acceptable in society, contradicts moral principles and general rules of conduct, and is disrespectful.

However, in the opinion of the prosecutor’s office, the actions identified during the investigation were not so dangerous that they might be considered as brazen behavior according to the Criminal Code and, as a result, criminal prosecution might be applied.

“We want to draw attention to the fact that the termination of the pre-trial investigation does not mean that unacceptable behavior in society remains unappreciated or unpunished,” noted the representative of the prosecutor’s office.

According to her, the investigation material has been handed over to the police to initiate administrative proceedings and to draw up administrative offense protocols.

The portal jarmo.lt was the first to announce the prosecutor’s decision. Monika Antanaitytė, a lawyer of the Lithuanian Gay League (LGL), who commented on it, said that the decision of the prosecutor’s office was unexpected.

“It is clear that the actions of the counter-demonstrators, which included, among others, persons well-known to law enforcement, were not considered dangerous, the police did not respond to the LGBTI protesters’ requests for help, the protest had to be stopped for the safety of the protesters themselves, because it simply became impossible to continue it in such dangerous conditions “, she said.

According to M. Antanaitytė, law enforcement was approached for incitement to hatred, threats, violation of public order and other violations. According to her, the fact that the prosecutor’s office found that the case contains data on administrative offenses committed and that these offenders will probably pay only with fines means that the event itself will not be reflected as a hate crime.