Lithuania / Kedainiai district court / penal order in the criminal case no. 1-303-836/2016

Country

Lithuania

Title

Lithuania / Kedainiai district court / penal order in the criminal case no. 1-303-836/2016

View full Case

Year

2016

Decision/ruling/judgment date

Monday, October 17, 2016

Incident(s) concerned/related

Incitement to violence or hatred

Related Bias motivation

Religion
Race/Ethnicity

Groups affected

Muslims
Refugees & asylum seekers

Court/Body type

National Court

Court/Body

Kedainiai district court

Key facts of the case

M.J. from Lithuania publicly wrote two comments on the online article “The fat is in the fire: refugee Basir tricked Lithuania” („Yla išlindo iš maišo: pabėgėlis Basiras apgavo Lietuvą“) on the news portal “www.lrytas.lt”. A court of first instance decided that by writing the comments, M.J. publicly incited violence and physical violent treatment of Muslims on a grounds of nationality, publicly ridiculed, expressed contempt for, and urged hatred of refugees (Article 170 (paragraphs 2 and 3) of the Criminal Code.

Main reasoning/argumentation

M.J. fully admitted his guilt. The Court ruled that the discriminatory character of the activities was obvious.

Is the case related to the application of the Framework Decision on Racism and Xenophobia, the Racial Equality Directive?

Key issues (concepts, interpretations) clarified by the case

not applicable

Results (sanctions, outcome) and key consequences or implications of the case

M.J. was given a fine of €1129.80, but the fine was reduced to €753.20 on the ground that the case has ended by the court penal order and the accused fully admitted his guilt.
Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, it is permitted to deviate from the model of general criminal procedure and the criminal procedure can be ended by means of a court penal order when the stipulated conditions are met.

Key quotation in original language and its unofficial translation into English with reference details

"BK 170 straipsnyje įtvirtintas draudimas pagrįstas Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucijos 25 straipsnio 4 dalies nuostata, pagal kurią laisvė reikšti įsitikinimus ir skleisti informaciją nesuderinama su nusikalstamais veiksmais – tautinės, rasinės, religinės ar socialinės neapykantos, prievartos bei diskriminacijos kurstymu, šmeižtu ir dezinformacija."

"Prohibition provided in Article 170 of the Criminal Code is based on the provisions of Article 25(4) of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, according to which the freedom to express convictions and to impart information shall be incompatible with criminal actions—incitement to national, racial, religious, or social hatred, incitement to violence or to discrimination, as well as defamation and disinformation."

DISCLAIMERThe information presented here is collected under contract by the FRA's research network FRANET. The information and views contained do not necessarily reflect the views or the official position of the FRA.