Court fines Respublika for anti-Semitic artices

May 25, 2005

A Vilnius court on Wednesday handed down its first ruling in an administrative case over a series of anti-Semitic articles that were published in the Respublika daily last year.

The court fined Algis Kalanta, editor-in-chief of the Russian-language version of Respublika, 1,000 litas (290 euros).

Rimvydas Valentukevicius, prosecutor of the Special Investigation Division of the Prosecutor General's Office, told the Baltic News Service that a minimum fine was imposed in view of the fact that the accused had not been the author of the articles but had agreed to publish them.

The series of publications were described by observers as instigating anti-Semitism and intolerance of gays.

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