Russian channel will not be suspended, rules Vilnius court

Vilnius County Court has rejected a request from the Radio and Television Commission of Lithuania (LRTK) to oblige Lithuanian broadcasters to temporarily suspend the broadcasting of programmes from the Russian television channel Ren TV Baltic that are produced not in the European Union, the European Economic Area or countries that have signed the European Convention on Transfrontier Television.

The LRTK claimed that the Ren TV Baltic show Territory of Misconceptions, broadcast last year, violated Article 19 of the Law on Provision of Information to the Public. The show was said to have presented biased and single-sided information about the recent events in Ukraine, incited aggression and hatred towards Ukrainians and the Ukrainian government, as well as towards EU and NATO countries that have supported Ukraine's territorial integrity.

Vilnius County Court evaluated the findings of the LRTK and the recording of the show. The court ruled that the LRTK had failed to present facts in their legal assessment, and that thus there was no basis for satisfying their request.

According to the court, neither the LRTK's findings nor the request pinpointed what concrete information of the aforementioned TV show led to the conclusion that certain laws were breached. The LRTK did not include quotes from the show that it regarded as biased and providing one-sided information. It did not explain what concrete recent events were mentioned, what information should be regarded as facts and what information they considered to be inciting aggression and hatred.

There will now be seven days before LRTK can appeal against this ruling to the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania.