Court to extend property restrictions in priest’s case

Vilnius Regional Court will hold the first hearing Thursday in the criminal case against priest Tadas Švedavičius, who is accused of sexual offenses against children, LRT reported. The case itself will not be examined yet; the court will decide whether to extend temporary restrictions on the accused’s property rights.

According to Lithuania’s court information system LITEKO, Judge Audrius Cininas will consider the application of temporary procedural measures in written proceedings. The parties will not be invited to attend, meaning that neither Švedavičius, his defence lawyer nor other parties will appear in court.

Cininas told ELTA that the existing period of the temporary property restriction is ending, so the court is deciding on its own initiative whether to extend it.

Prosecutors previously said that civil claims had been filed in the case and that Švedavičius’s rights to property he owns had therefore been restricted.

Gintaras Grušas, the metropolitan archbishop of Vilnius, said the priest had promised to compensate the victims.

“The priest himself is determined to compensate for the damage. He has promised to allocate money. We are now waiting for those concrete steps, but he has personally promised to provide money for compensation,” Grušas told LRT Radio on Thursday.

Grušas had earlier said that Švedavičius was seeking to be dismissed from the priesthood.

The clergyman, who worked in the Archdiocese of Vilnius, is accused in 34 criminal episodes involving the sexual abuse of children, possession of pornographic material and involving children in drinking. The case has 11 victims, who were between 12 and 18 years old when the alleged crimes were committed. All of them are now adults.

Courts award victims of sexual offenses compensation for material and non-material damage, as well as legal expenses. For example, former member of parliament Kristijonas Bartoševičius, who was sentenced to seven years in prison, was ordered to pay victims 32,000 euros in material and non-material damages.

Alleged crimes spanning decades

Švedavičius is believed to have committed the alleged crimes from 2002 to 2025.

The case is linked to another criminal case sent to court at the end of June. In that case, another priest who worked in the Vilnius Archdiocese, Ryšardas Peciunas, is accused of possessing pornographic material depicting children.

Justas Laucius, chief prosecutor of the Vilnius Regional Prosecutor’s Office, said there was no evidence that the two priests had committed crimes together. However, material obtained during the investigation of one case led to a separate investigation, he said.

Švedavičius was ordained a priest on June 29, 2001. Last year, he was appointed parish priest of the Dubičiai Sacred Heart of Jesus parish, a position he held until December 19, 2025. Before that, he worked in three other parishes in the Trakai and Šalčininkai districts.

Peciunas was ordained on November 21, 1999. At different times, he and Švedavičius worked in the same Paluknys St John the Baptist and Rūdiškės Sacred Heart of Jesus parishes.

Peciunas’s case was assigned to the Vilnius City District Court. Švedavičius’s case, involving serious charges, will be heard by Vilnius Regional Court, but the trial date has not yet been set.