No riot charge yet for anti-gay parliamentarians

Order and Justice parliamentarian Petras Gražulis, pictured above, has repeatedly made motions in parliament to recriminalize homosexuality in Lithuania.

VILNIUS — There will not yet be a formal request to the Lithuanian parliament whether or not to remove the legal immunity of the parliamentarians accused of inciting a riot at the gay parade due to insufficient evidence.

Seimas members Kazimieras Uoka (Homeland Union-Christian Democrats) and Petras Gražulis (Order and Justice) are under investigation as the behest of the Seimas Committee For Equality after the pair leaped over police barricades at the country’s first-ever gay parade. They were immediately arrested.

Police formally charged them with a minor administrative offense, but did not include a criminal element in their inquiry. The prosecutor general’s office has been asked to compile a pretrial investigation into the matter. If it is deemed to be a worthy case, they will apply to the Seimas to strip the two members of their immunity.

The criminal offense of inciting a riot carries a maximum three-year jail term.

“As you know, the police asked only for administrative responsibilities and did not infer a criminal offense. We’ll see if it is otherwise and make the decision if it will be different,” acting Prosecutor General Raimondas Petrauskas said.

Petrauskas himself tried to halt the parade along with Kaunas city council member Stanislovas Buškevičius on the grounds that it Vilnius police would be unable to stop violence between anti-gay protesters and parade participants. Buškevičius actually attended the anti-gay protest, shouting slogans through a bullhorn to the crowd of skinheads.

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