Vilnius - Authorities in Lithuania are probing a website that calls for people to kill gays and warns people not to declare in public that they are homosexual, the prosecutor's office said on Monday.

"Two separate investigations were started. One is related to a website directed against homosexual people, another to leaflets distributed in Vilnius, which call for action against the homosexual community," Aurelija Juodyte, a spokesperson for the prosecutor's office, told AFP.

"Among the comments on the website, entitled 'Let's stop the rainbow colours', were calls to beat and kill homosexual people," Juodyte said. "The leaflets warned homosexual people not to out (declare they were gay) in public," she added.

Lithuanian law provides for imprisonment of up to three years for discrimination and instigation of hatred.

A Lithuanian transsexual has won a case at the European Court of Human Rights over claims that he has been blocked from completing his gender transition.

The seven judges also ruled that Lithuania must implement new legislation on gender reassignment within three months or pay damages.

The 28-year-old has been undergoing gender reassignment since 1998 including hormone treatment and breast removal, but is now being blocked from more treatment because of the laws in Lithuania. He says he suffers daily embarrassment because he is still described as a woman on official documents.

Patricia Prendiville, executive director of the International Lesbian and Gay Association Europe, said: “This is a very positive judgement and we welcome the court’s consistency on this matter.