Olekas to review laws after priests charged with child sex crimes

Seimas Speaker Juozas Olekas has asked lawmakers and prosecutors to assess whether Lithuania’s laws should be amended after two priests were charged with sexual crimes against children, LRT reported.

Olekas said he had asked the chair of the Seimas Committee on Legal Affairs and Law Enforcement to review the legal situation with committee members at its next meeting. He also requested a meeting with the prosecutor general to receive an overview of whether law enforcement lacked any tools needed to prevent such crimes.

“I asked the chair of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Law Enforcement to review with his colleagues at the committee’s next meeting the entire legal situation and whether anything needs to be changed,” Olekas told Žinių radijas on Wednesday.

He also said he had requested a meeting with Vilnius Archbishop Gintaras Grušas.

According to LRT and BNS, the cases of two priests have been referred to court. One priest is accused of sexual crimes against 11 minors allegedly committed between 2002 and 2025. His case was sent to the Vilnius Regional Court.

The other priest is accused of possessing child pornography. His case was sent to the Vilnius City District Court, and there are no victims in that case. Court schedules published by the Delfi news portal and the Liteko court information system identify the defendants as Tadas Švedavičius and Ryšardas Peciūnas, respectively.

The Archdiocese of Vilnius said it learned about the priests’ alleged crimes from the prosecutor’s office after pre-trial investigations began. The priests were then suspended, and canonical investigations were also opened against them.