Ulvidas asks Supreme Court to halt two abuse cases

Convicted sex offender Algimantas Ulvidas has asked Lithuania’s Supreme Court to terminate two criminal cases against him, LRT reported on Saturday.

In one appeal, Ulvidas is seeking to overturn a Kaunas Regional Court conviction finding him guilty of 33 criminal acts involving the sexual molestation of girls under 16 and to have the case terminated, Supreme Court spokeswoman Tautvilė Merkevičiūtė told ELTA.

The Supreme Court has accepted the appeal for consideration. In April, the Kaunas Regional Court rejected Ulvidas’ appeal and upheld a lower court ruling sentencing him to six years and nine months in prison for molesting girls.

According to the case file, between 2016 and 2019 Ulvidas carried out sexual acts against children under 16 in various locations in Kaunas and the surrounding district. On at least 50 occasions, he took girls under 16 to a secluded forest location in the Karmelava administrative district and danced for them while exposing his genitals.

Investigators said the conduct involved sexual acts capable of causing sexual arousal in children under 16, encouraging premature interest in sexual functions and creating an unhealthy and distorted understanding of relations between the sexes.

The Supreme Court has also accepted a separate appeal from Ulvidas in a case in which he was convicted of molesting three people under 16. He is asking the court either to terminate that case or return it to a lower or appellate court for reconsideration.

In May, the Kaunas Regional Court sentenced him to one year and six months in prison in that case. Law enforcement authorities said the case was opened after it was established that he had danced for underage girls while displaying his genitals.

ELTA reported that four cases involving similar alleged offences against teenagers have been heard by courts of different levels. All were related to Ulvidas dancing naked in front of minors. Courts have issued different rulings, including convictions and acquittals.

In April, the Supreme Court upheld a conviction in one of the cases, ruling that Ulvidas had been lawfully convicted for molesting minors. Its final and non appealable ruling upheld a two year and five month prison sentence, which he is currently serving, but overturned the finding that he was a repeat offender.

Ulvidas disputes the convictions, saying the girls called him themselves and that the minors said he had neither harmed nor touched them. He has also complained that he is not receiving the psychiatric treatment in prison that he received while free. He says he has been diagnosed with a mental disorder and should not be punished for it.