The parliament is waiting for the court’s opinion before deciding on its next step in the impeachment process against Pūkas.
If the court rules that specific actions by a parliamentarian were unconstitutional, the Seimas votes on whether or not to strip that person of his or her mandate. At least 85 votes in the 141-member parliament are needed to pass an impeachment resolution.
The Seimas back in May asked the court to give its opinion on whether Pūkas violated the Constitution, but the process stalled due to the lawmaker’s illness.
A special parliamentary commission has concluded that the parliamentarian discredited the reputation of the state and of the Seimas as he “undermined the dignity of” a female assistant of his and female applicants for the job of secretary-assistant “by his actions, words and non-verbal communication” and that he discriminated against the women because of their social status.
The parliament on Dec. 5 lifted the legal immunity of Pūkas so that prosecutors could bring formal suspicions of sexual harassment and violation of the rules for keeping firearms against the lawmaker.