Lithuania
Lithuania regularly reports hate crime data to ODIHR. Lithuania's Criminal Code contains a combination of general and specific penalty-enhancement provisions and a substantive offence. Data are collected by the Police Department under the Ministry of the Interior and the Prosecutor General's Office. Data are not made publicly available.
How hate crime data is collected
Criminal data are processed in the Departmental Register of Criminal Acts. The Register is administrated by the Ministry of the Interior. The data are provided by police officers and prosecutors when a pre-trial investigation begins or other decisions on criminal procedures are made. The judges provide data to the Register only in cases of private accusation, in which a pre-trial investigation is not carried out and a victim files a complaint and upholds an accusation in court.
There are two types of hate crimes described in the criminal code: substantive crimes with bias motivations (with specific sentencing enhancements for murder, health impairment, desecration of graves or other places of public respect, and incitement of violence); and all other crimes for which bias motivation is an aggravating circumstance that should be taken into account by the court in sentencing.
During the investigation of hate crime cases, officers entering information in the Register will mark a criminal act as likely motivated by race, nationality, religion, language, gender, descent, social status, convictions or views, sexual orientation, age and disability.
When a criminal case is referred to the court, the officer entering the decision in the Register will also indicate the bias motive of a criminal act if it has been investigated. In order to obtain the data on recorded and prosecuted hate crimes, a search of the Register, filtered by indicated motives and specific paragraphs of relevant articles of the criminal code is carried out. The data found are then reviewed to ensure accuracy.
In order to obtain the data on sentences for hate crimes, a search by a relevant criminal case number is carried out in the Register of Suspected, Accused and Convicted Persons for hate crimes referred to the court. The searches are done and the received data are reviewed by the Public Security and Migration Department of the Ministry of the Interior.
Statistics on the application of aggravating circumstance provisions in sentencing are not available at the moment. There is no special instruction or policy document that governs the hate crime data collection process. Only official statistics on crimes recorded as "Incitement against any National, Racial, Ethnic, Religious or Other Group of Persons", which are mostly cases of hate speech, are published on the Ministry of the Interior's website.
Official Data
| Year | Hate crimes recorded by police | Prosecuted | Sentenced | About these data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 7 | 4 | 2 | |
| 2017 | 9 | 4 | 3 | |
| 2016 | 20 | 6 | 7 | |
| 2015 | 24 | 5 | 4 | |
| 2014 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
National developments
Lithuania adopted a new Code of Administrative Offences in 2015 that includes a general penalty enhancement provision if the offense was committed with a bias motivation. The code will enter into force in 2017.
Incidents reported by civil society, international organizations and the Holy See
Reports
Racism and xenophobia
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The European Foundations of Human Rights reported two physical assaults targeting people from Azerbaijan and Armenia; and four incidents of graffiti targeting Poles and Russians.read more ›
Bias against other groups - Sexual orientation or gender identity
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ILGA-Europe and the Lithuanian Gay League reported two physical assaults; one of the victims was a man who had intervened following the verbal abuse of patrons of a gay club.read more ›
International reports
Racism and xenophobia, Bias against other groups - Sexual orientation or gender identity
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In its fifth report on Lithuania, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) recommended that the Criminal Code be amended to include colour, citizenship and gender identity as protected characteristics. ECRI also observed the need for further training for police officers, prosecutors and judges on how to approach hate crimes.
Racism and xenophobia
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In its "Concluding observations on the combined sixth to eighth periodic reports of Lithuania", the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) recommended that the collection of data on reported hate crimes, prosecutions and sentences be improved, and that the state take measures to reach out to groups at risk of being targeted. The Committee also stressed the importance of ensuring the effective investigation and prosecution of hate crimes.
Key observation
ODIHR observes that Lithuania has not made public reliable data and statistics on hate crimes.
