Former Lithuanian MP ordered to pay €32,000 in damages to sexual abuse victims
A Lithuanian court has ruled that imprisoned former MP Kristijonas Bartoševičius must pay €32,000 in material and moral damages to victims of sexual abuse, though enforcement will proceed through bailiffs as his accounts remain frozen, LRT reports.
Bartoševičius, currently serving a seven-year prison sentence, will not personally handle the payments. “He cannot pay himself because his account is seized—everything will likely go through the bailiff,” his lawyer Olegas Šibkovas told the Lithuanian news agency ELTA on Thursday.
The Panevėžys Regional Court, overseeing enforcement, has already issued execution documents to the victims’ legal representatives. “Yesterday, the court sent execution documents to the legal representatives of three victims for the enforcement of civil claims,” confirmed Jolita Gudelienė, the court’s press officer.
Earlier rulings had restricted Bartoševičius’ access to his bank funds, citing pending civil claims from victims. The awarded sums—€8,000 and €12,000 to two teenage victims—were later increased by the Lithuanian Court of Appeal, though the final distribution per victim was not detailed.
Bartoševičius, 38, was transferred to Kaunas Prison on Tuesday. He will serve his sentence in a semi-open facility with standard privileges, including four monthly visits (one unsupervised), unrestricted calls to his lawyer, and up to three hours of daily outdoor exercise.
Last week, the Court of Appeal rejected his appeal, upholding the original conviction on all ten charges: sexual assault of a minor, sexual coercion of a person under 16, corruption of a minor, and causing minor bodily harm. The court also barred him from working with minors for five years post-release.
The investigation concluded in July 2023 after allegations surfaced of sexual crimes against minors linked to the boys’ choir Ąžuoliukas, where Bartoševičius served as director (2012–2020) and later as a teacher at Kaunas Veršvų Gymnasium (2018–2019). He resigned from parliament in January 2023 amid the probe.