A report in the Vremya (Time) news program of Latvia-registered Pirmais Baltijas Kanals Lietuva about a commemoration of the Day of Freedom Fighters in the Seimas on January 13 contained "false, slanderous and war-inciting information about Lithuanian and Latvian partisans", it said.
According to the watchdog, the news report violated a law that prohibits inciting to war and disseminating disinformation and information which is slanderous and offensive to a person and degrades his or her honor and dignity.
This is the first recorded violation of this type by Pirmais Baltijas Kanals Lietuva in a year. LRTK may imposed restrictions on a EU-registered channel only after it has established three such violations.
The watchdog has also established a violation, the second one in a year, by NTV Mir Lithuania, a Russian-language TV channel of the UK-registered broadcaster Baltic Media Alliance Ltd.
A report shown on its Weekly Review program on January 20 claimed that partisans killed peaceful civilians and were involved in the Holocaust and that historical facts are falsified in Lithuania and Latvia, the commission said.
Lithuania has in the past subjected several Russian TV channels to the maximum possible one-year rebroadcasting restrictions for incitement to war and hatred.
