DEMOCRACY COMES TO LITHUANIA

Lithuanian editor fined
for criticizing Jews, homos

 

Lithuanian paper fined for saying Jews rule the world
3,000 litas for publishing anti-Semitic editorial
Jerusalem Post  Monday, 11 July 2005

By JOSHUA ELLISON

VILNIUS—A Lithuanian court has fined the owner of a popular
newspaper 3,000 litas for publishing an anti-Semitic editorial.

Vitas Tomkus, the owner and editor-in-chief of the daily Respublika
was found liable for his scurrilous attacks aimed at homosexuals
and Jews. In an editorial published last year, entitled "Who Rules
the World?," Tomkus warned readers to be suspicious of America,
because it, "is ruled by Jews." He added that "Jews use the issue
of the Holocaust to conceal their own crimes."

An editorial cartoon, also published last year, depicts a caricatured
Jewish figure holding aloft a globe. He is standing next to a man
identified as a homosexual.

Representatives of Lithuania's 4,000 Jews testified in court. One
spokesperson accused the paper of "openly promoting anti-Semitic
hysteria." The incident had provoked denouncements from around
the world, including the United States.

In a letter to the Lithuanian ambassador from New Jersey Senator
Steve Rothman, signed by 19 other congressman, the Senator
warned: "Prejudice against Jews and gays will only threaten the
stability of trans-Atlantic relations between Lithuania and the
United States and potentially slow the progress of the Republic
of Lithuania's integration into European institutions."