Court to reconsider whether prosecution must provide Matijošaitis with investigation information

Lithuania’s Supreme Administrative Court has overturned a lower court’s decision to dismiss a dispute between Kaunas Mayor Visvaldas Matijošaitis and the prosecution, sending the case back for reconsideration, LRT reports.

The court ruled that the first-instance court had incorrectly determined that the dispute did not fall under the jurisdiction of administrative courts. The case centres on Matijošaitis’ request for information about a pre-trial investigation involving him, which prosecutors had refused to provide.

The Supreme Administrative Court noted that the Constitution guarantees an individual’s right to access information held by state institutions about themselves. It also highlighted that the case raises questions about the legality of the prosecutor’s decisions regarding the disclosure of information.

Matijošaitis had appealed a February ruling by the Regional Administrative Court, which terminated his case seeking access to a pre-trial investigation file. The investigation, launched in March 2023, was related to alleged corruption among Kaunas municipal employees and was later discontinued. The mayor argues that, although he was not formally granted procedural status, his actions as mayor were evaluated during the investigation, entitling him to the information.

Prosecutors had maintained that Matijošaitis was not a party to the proceedings and thus had no right to access the investigation materials. The Regional Administrative Court had previously ruled that administrative courts only handle disputes involving decisions or actions by public administration bodies, and that procedural actions by prosecutors or pre-trial investigation officers do not fall under their jurisdiction.

The pre-trial investigation in question began after Vilius Šiliauskas, then-director of the Kaunas municipal administration, was suspected of bribery. Šiliauskas was later convicted of accepting a bribe of €260,000 and sentenced to three years and four months in prison, though he was released early last November.