In Lithuania, a man was sentenced to a fine and restriction of freedom for discrimination against Russians A resident of Lithuania called for violence against Russians on a national basis on the Internet, he was fined and sent to a behavior correction program. The prime minister of Lithuania and the mayor of Vilnius urged not to insult Russians because of Ukraine (max-width: 320px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2), (max-width: 320px) and (min-resolution: 192dpi)” >
Courthouse in Tauragė
Vytautas M., a resident of the Lithuanian city of Taurage, was sentenced by a court to four months of restraint of liberty, a fine of €500 and a behavior correction program for “public discrimination against Russians” ;, reports the Delfi portal.
The man “singled them out on a national basis, called for violence against these people, and also mocked the Russians, caused hatred for them,” the court concluded.
The reason for initiating a case against the man was a comment to publications with a quote from the President of the Republic Gitanas Nauseda on Facebook (Meta, the owner of the social network, is recognized as extremist and banned in Russia). Nauseda, after the entry of Russian troops into Ukraine, assured that the authorities were making efforts to “end Russia's adventure.” The man in the comments under the publication called for violence against the Russians.
The convict pleaded guilty and expressed regret because of the comment left. Vytautas M. explained that he made such a comment because of what is happening in Ukraine, but assured that he would not have done such a thing in relation to the Russians. He said: “I'm not against the Russians in general, the Russians in general are not to blame for what is happening in Ukraine.”
The court concluded that Vytautas M. intended to carry out the threats, but the confession of guilt and the expression of regret became mitigating factors. An aggravating circumstance was that Vytautas M. had previously been convicted four times;According to the census conducted at the end of last year, 2.81 million people live in Lithuania, of which 5% identified themselves as Russians (140.5 thousand). At the same time, Russians occupy a significant proportion of the population in large cities: in the city of Visaginas (51.9%), located on the Baltic Sea, in the city of Klaipeda (19.6%) and the capital— Vilnius (11.9%), according to the Lithuanian General Encyclopedia.
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Lithuania condemned Russia's decision to send troops to Ukraine, the republic, along with other members of the European Union, imposed sanctions against official Moscow. The mayor of Vilnius, Remigius Simasius, at the same time called for not insulting the Russian-speaking residents of Lithuania and other countries, emphasizing that “the Russian regime is the aggressor, and not they.” He called the aggression against Russian-speakers “bombs of the information war”.
“Anyone who offends Russian-speakers in Lithuania (whether Lithuanian, Belarusian, Russian or Ukrainian), — scoundrel. Anyone who sees these insults and doesn't stop them, — coward»,— said the mayor of Vilnius.
Šimašius also noted that the decision to sever ties with Russian and Belarusian partner cities of the Lithuanian capital is not an action against the Russians, but “against the regime.” He added that, at the same time, “their silence allows this crazy war to be waged.”
A similar opinion was expressed by the Prime Minister of the Republic, Ingrida Simonyte, who called the Russians and Belarusians living in the country Lithuanian patriots. “We would not want to see reproaches against our fellow citizens in attempts to shift the burden of the crimes of V. Putin and A. Lukashenko onto them solely because of their nationality,” & mdash; she said.
At the same time, the Latvian government is calling for the abolition of Schengen visas issued to Russians and Belarusians at the pan-European level, such a measure was proposed by Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis. He explained that if you simply stop issuing visas to residents of Russia and Belarus, this will not solve the problem. “A significant number of tourists will still have the opportunity to enjoy the European lifestyle, which, according to the authorities of Russia and Belarus, should be despised and even fought against,” — said the head of the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry.
Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anushauskas later considered the all-European consensus on this issue unpromising. The European Commission pointed out that such a restriction does not comply with the EU Visa Code, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called Russia's actions in Ukraine “Putin's war, not the Russian people”, and therefore a ban should not be introduced on behalf of the entire EU.
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