Kažys plans to appeal corruption conviction to Lithuania’s top court

Appeal Court judge Viktoras Kažys, whose powers have been suspended, plans to challenge his corruption conviction at the Supreme Court of Lithuania, LRT reported. He said at a Judicial Council meeting on Thursday that he and his defence team were preparing a cassation appeal.

The council was meeting at the request of President Gitanas Nausėda, who sought its advice on dismissing Kažys for discrediting the judicial office and following the entry into force of the conviction. If the council advises in favour, the president would submit the dismissal to parliament.

Kažys asked the council not to support dismissal under the provision concerning conduct that discredits a judge. He also asked it to postpone its decision under the provision concerning a final conviction until the Supreme Court decides whether to accept his appeal and, if it does, until the case is resolved.

Kažys said his situation had continued for nearly eight years and argued that extending the suspension of his powers for another six months would not harm the justice system. He said dismissal could prevent him from returning to the judiciary and would have irreversible consequences.

A first-instance court in Kaunas acquitted Kažys of bribery, but the Court of Appeal found him guilty in September and fined him 12,500 euros. The appeals court said a recorded conversation between Kažys and Drąsutis Zagreckas, who was exempted from criminal liability, showed they were discussing a confidential matter. It interpreted Kažys’s response to Zagreckas’s illegal request, “I’ll have a look,” as a promise to accept a bribe. Kažys criticised the court’s assessment of the evidence, describing the judgment as a “psychological novella” rather than a decision based on legal arguments.

The Court of Appeal also upheld the guilt of long-serving Druskininkai mayor Ričardas Malinauskas for giving a bribe through intermediaries in a civil case concerning the proposed demolition of the so-called Vijūnėlė mansion. He was fined and lost his mayoral powers.

Nausėda suspended Kažys’s powers in February 2019, pending a final decision in the corruption investigation or the entry into force of a ruling in the criminal case.