A 37-year-old man from Vilnius has been ordered in court to pay a fine of 450 euros (1560 Lithuanian litas) for a comment he posted under an article on Facebook about the world-famous singer Lady Gaga’s criticism of the Lithuanian Government.

 

According to Delfi.lt, the First District Court of Vilnius City judged that, in his public comment about gays, the man, currently employed as a furniture assembler, employed inflammatory rhetoric and encouraged mockery, defiance, discrimination and physical violence against a group of people or its members on the grounds of sexual orientation. Investigation into the comment was started after prosecutors received notification about it from Lithuanian Gay League (LGL). 

 

The article concerned Lady Gaga’s performance in connection with Gay Pride events in Rome, during which she criticized governments of countries that violate the rights of homosexual people, including Lithuania.