Five commission members voted for such a conclusion on Monday. Social Democrat Kęstutis Vilkauskas abstained and published a separate opinion.
“Such rhetoric, especially used by a member of the Seimas, is unacceptable, but the prosecutor’s appeal more than a year after the event, when the election campaign actually began, raises additional questions,” said K. Vilkauskas.
Dalia Asanavičiūtė, the conservative chairman of the commission, said that the crime allegedly committed by the parliamentarian is obvious, recorded on video, and the decision on how to evaluate it must be made by law enforcement.
“There is a record that has been made public, a clear activity, and it is not up to us to decide whether he is guilty or innocent, but the institutions should find out whether Seimas member P. Gražulis is guilty. As an ordinary citizen of Lithuania, he should answer for his actions or not, if he is not guilty”, D. Asanavičiūtė told journalists after the commission meeting.
According to the head of the commission, the draft resolution will be submitted to the Seimas on Tuesday.
“The commission did its job, we made a decision, by voting, democratically, and tomorrow the Seimas will decide, 71 votes are needed for the Seimas to decide (to allow – BNS) to prosecute a member of the Seimas”, noted D. Asanavičiūtė.
The commission was made up of the ruling conservatives, liberals and the Freedom faction and the opposition social democrats, the other opposition factions did not delegate their representatives, saying that they see a political undertone in the request to revoke the immunity of Mr. Gražulis.
P. Gražulis takes this position as well, who says that the case opened due to his statements is a political crackdown.
“Nothing surprised me, I thought that the (commission – BNS) vote would be like that, everything was clear here. This is just a political confrontation, I don’t consider it any other way. Now they say that there is a democratic Lithuania, but it is a dictatorial one, Landsbergs the clan has taken over, the conservatives can say whatever they want, curse, the people of the ruling majority are allowed to do everything,” P. Gražulis told BNS on Monday.
A couple of weeks ago, the Prosecutor General appealed to the Seimas with a request to cancel the immunity of P. Gražulis, a representative of the Mixed Group of Seimas members, so that he could be charged with public mockery and contempt of a group of people because of their sexual orientation.
According to the statute of the Seimas, after hearing the appeal of the prosecutor, a commission of inquiry is formed regarding the consent to prosecute, arrest or otherwise restrict the freedom of a member of the Seimas.
If the conclusion of the commission of inquiry proposes to grant the request of the General Prosecutor’s Office, the resolution requires that more than half of all members of the Seimas, i.e. at least 71, vote for the cancellation of immunity.
Jurgita Jasiūnienė, prosecutor of the 1st Criminal Prosecution Department of the Vilnius District Prosecutor’s Office, said at the commission meeting held last week that Mr. Gražulis’ remarks about representatives of the LGBTIQ community were contemptuous of a group of people, the suspicions are based on the conclusions of linguists.
Mr. Gražulis was also invited to the meeting to present his position, but he only came to declare that he would not participate, and repeated that the process started against him was a political crackdown.
On May 26 of last year, after the Seimas approved the civil union bill legalizing same-sex partnerships after its presentation, Mr. Gražulis, after leaving the plenary meeting hall in the Seimas, met several representatives of the LGBTIQ community and cursed them, called them degenerates spreading venereal diseases, and offered them treatment .
The Criminal Code stipulates that anyone who publicly mocked, insulted, incited hatred or incited to discriminate against a group of people or a person belonging to it because of age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, race, skin color, nationality, language, origin, ethnic origin, social status , faith, beliefs or views, may be punished by a fine, restriction of liberty, arrest or deprivation of liberty for up to two years.
According to the Constitution, without the consent of the Seimas, a member of the Seimas cannot be prosecuted, arrested, or his freedom restricted in any other way.
For the second time in this term, the Prosecutor General will request to revoke the legal immunity of P. Gražulis, MP of the Mixed Group of Seimas Members.
It was revoked in December 2020 to allow the politician to be charged with abuse in the Judex dumpling case.
According to law enforcement, using his status as a member of the Seimas, Mr. Gražulis helped manage the problems of the frozen food company Judex when Russian officials found listeria bacteria in the company’s products in 2015.
For this, the Court of Appeal of Lithuania awarded the politician more than 15 thousand last June. EUR fine and ordered to confiscate over 3.3 thousand. euros. The Supreme Court of Lithuania should announce the final verdict in this case on Tuesday.
In addition, Mr. Gražulis was charged for intentionally voting for another member of the Seimas.
#Seimas #commission #proposes #parliament #abolish #immunity #Gražulis
2024-09-01 10:26:26
