As reported by representatives of the Lithuanian Centre for Human Rights, a few days ago, they received a letter from one of the people following their activities, Liova. He showed correspondence between himself and Žemaitaitis in May 2023. The e-mail was sent from the Member of the Seimas's work e-mail address.
The man had asked the MEP to apologise to him after anti-Semitic remarks made by the politician had been circulating in the public domain last year. The reply he received was astonishing.
„Save your pennies for food and medical treatment because I hear Mr Biden will bankrupt the country! At the same time, you should like it so as not to be sad,“ Žemaitaitis replied to the letter he received from a Lithuanian Jew.
The politician attached a link to the audio-visual database compiled by the Lithuanian Institute of Literature and Folklore, which contains the 1975 recording Lipo Žydas Kopėčiom (A Jew was climbing a ladder).
„Liova is a citizen of Lithuania, Israel and the USA. His father was a volunteer in the Lithuanian army between the wars. Liova's relatives were killed during the Holocaust in Lithuania, and his Lithuanian citizenship was restored by presidential decree,“ the Lithuanian Centre for Human Rights said.
They stressed that the court decided to hand over the correspondence to the General Prosecutor's Office while the criminal case was further examined.
„In our opinion, such a hate-filled e-mail shows that Mr Žemaitaitis, contrary to what he is claiming now (that he was misunderstood), was, in fact, misunderstood correctly. The politician, who returned to the Seimas, expressed his hatred for Jewish people both in public communication and in his e-mail correspondence:“ – representatives of the Lithuanian Centre for Human Rights are convinced.
We want to remind you that on Tuesday, the Seimas lifted the legal immunity of Žemaitaitis. The MP, who is accused of inciting hatred against Jews, agreed to have his immunity lifted in a simplified procedure.
101 Members of the Seimas voted in favour of lifting the immunity of the politician, while there were no votes against or abstentions. Representatives of the Nemuno Aušra group in the Seimas did not participate in the ballot.
