Constitutional Court
25 April 2024
No KT37-I2/2024
Facts
The applicant parliament (Seimas) adopted a resolution on the initiation of impeachment proceedings against Remigijus Žemaitaitis and requested Constitutional Court to deliver a conclusion. Seimas has asked for an opinion as to whether the specific actions of Mr Žemaitaitis are contrary to the Constitution.
Complaint
The requested stated that Žemaitaitis published anti-Semitic posts inciting national hatred on the social network Facebook and in the mass media, and that by his actions he may have broken his oath of office as a Member of the Seimas and grossly violated the Constitution.
The Court's decision
The Court noted that a Member of the Seimas, in expressing his/her views and convictions and disseminating information, must act in the interests of the Nation and the State, and base his/her actions on respect for the Constitution and the values protected and defended by it, and must not violate the rights and freedoms of other persons, or incite intolerance.
The Court stressed that the freedom of expression and dissemination of information guaranteed by the Constitution cannot be interpreted as permitting the freedom of information to be exercised in such a way as to undermine the values enshrined in the Constitution, including by publicly expressing such thoughts and views, expressing opinions, beliefs or disseminating other information which, by stigmatising, ridiculing or otherwise humiliating persons, demonstrates hatred towards those persons or a group of persons on the grounds of sex, race, nationality, language, origin, social status, religion, beliefs or opinions, or any other characteristic; such acts of public dissemination of ideas, views, beliefs or other information which manifest hatred against a person or group of persons on the grounds of their nationality or the characteristics of particular nations, such as language or beliefs, are among the acts which are not permitted under the Constitution.
The Court concluded that Mr. Žemaitaitis publicly, deliberately, purposefully, systematically disseminated information of a contemptuous, ridiculing, and therefore degrading to human dignity, content, demonstrating hatred towards persons on the basis of their nationality, thus disregarding the imperative of fostering harmony, as enshrined in the preamble to the Constitution, and failing to comply with the obligation of a Member of the Seimas to fulfil the Constitution and the law, which is a duty of a member of the Seimas, arising from the oath and from the constitutional status of the Seimas. The Court held that Mr. Žemaitaitis had seriously violated the Constitution and broken his oath of office.