Justas Laucius, chief prosecutor at the Vilnius Regional Prosecutor’s Office, made the request during a Vilnius Regional Court hearing on Wednesday. He said Žemaitaitis is set to acquire immunity from prosecution after taking the oath of office on Thursday in the Seimas.
"Once the person is sworn in to serve Lithuania, and immunity is granted, it will not be possible to hear the case in court anymore unless the Seimas authorises the prosecution. I ask the Court to instruct the Prosecutor General to apply to the Seimas for its consent to prosecute Žemaitaitis, who will become a member of the Seimas [tomorrow]," Laucius spoke in court.
The Vilnius Regional Court is scheduled to issue its ruling on the prosecutor’s request on Monday.
Žemaitaitis did not object to the request in the courtroom. Approached by reporters after the hearing, the politician reiterated that he will waive his immunity from prosecution.
The Nemunas Dawn leader is accused of inciting hatred against Jews and public approval of international crimes, their denial or gross trivialisation.
Faina Kukliansky, head of the Lithuanian Jewish Community, attended the court hearing as a witness. She said she was offended as a Jew by Žemaitaitis’ Facebook posts, taking them as an incitement to the murder of people of Jewish nationality.
"I was not acquainted with Mr Žemaitaitis, his statements offend me as a person, (...) he incited to kill the Jews, so it seemed to me. As a witness and as a citizen, I have to tell you what I saw and heard. I understood literally that an unnamed Jew climbed a ladder and fell. That it was a children’s counting-out rhyme is questionable. I am not aware of a person jumping over the rope and using that children’s rhyme. It was said in a completely different context, and the three communities understood it as an insult and turned to law enforcement," said Kukliansky.
Žemaitaitis said he does not deserve to be called an antisemite.
"The person who talks about Žemaitaitis and says that he is an antisemite forgets the main thing that Žemaitaitis was the one who drew up a conclusion to pass the law on Jewish religious property which was adopted precisely when I was part of the working group, and that I also received a letter of thanks from her (Kukliansky – ELTA)," he told reporters in court.
The Nemunas Dawn founder and leader confirmed that he will waive his immunity following the prosecutor general’s appeal to the Seimas and the start of the procedures. Žemaitaitis said he wants his criminal case to be decided as soon as possible.
"The process needs to resume as soon as possible, without stalling, and I believe we will resume the process in early December and continue with the trial. I want to finish that as soon as possible. (...) There is no antisemitism. I want the process to end as soon as possible, so that the issue of Jews is not dragged out any longer and that hatred against Jews does not grow. The longer the issue is dragged out, the more it is brought up, the more the pickets, and the more people start to question whether everything is alright in Lithuania," Žemaitaitis said when asked if he is being pressed by coalition partners to give up his future parliamentary immunity.