The European Parliament decided to waive the immunity of Viktor USPASKICH (ALDE, LT).
Parliament recalled that the Prosecutor General of Lithuania has requested the waiver of the parliamentary immunity of Viktor Uspaskich, Member of the European Parliament, in connection with a pre-trial investigation concerning an alleged criminal offence.
On 28 July 2013, Viktor Uspaskich was answering questions by journalists, when he allegedly described as being cowards, criminals, and puppets the judges who handed down on 12 July 2013 a verdict of guilty in a criminal case against him.
Consequently, the Prosecutor-General’s Office opened a preliminary investigation on the basis of indications that a punishable offence had been committed: humiliation of a court or a judge executing justice by reason of their activities.
Given that at the time of the alleged offence, Mr. Uspaskich was not a Member of the European Parliament and that there is no evidence of fumus persecutionis, that is to say a well-founded suspicion that the legal proceedings have been instituted with the intention of causing political damage to the Member, Parliament decided to waive the immunity of Victor Uspaskich.