Court upholds convictions over illegal dumping of contaminated soil
Thursday 1st October 2026 on 14:45 in
Lithuania
A Lithuanian appeals court has upheld the convictions of four former Šilutė district officials and a municipal company director in a case involving abuse of office and breaches of environmental laws, LRT reported.
The Klaipėda Regional Court rejected appeals by the defendants’ lawyers and left unchanged the Tauragė District Court’s ruling and all four sentences. Former Šilutė deputy mayor Algis Bekeris was fined nearly 26,000 euros, former municipal administration director Sigitas Šeputis nearly 30,000 euros, and department head Remigijus Rimkus and company director Artūras Stonkus more than 18,000 euros each.
All four were also barred for three years from being elected or appointed to positions in state or municipal institutions or non-governmental organisations.
The court found that the defendants acted together, using their official positions to breach environmental oversight rules. In October and November 2017, they arranged for more than 5,300 tonnes of soil contaminated with petroleum products to be taken to a former garage area in Šilutė that was not designated for storing such waste. The court said they sought to avoid costs related to investigating and cleaning up another contaminated site.
The dumping contaminated nearly 8,000 square metres with hazardous waste and caused more than 55 million euros in damage to the land, according to the prosecutor’s office. Part of the land became unsuitable for agriculture, recreation, forestry or residential use.
The defendants’ actions also enabled the area to be added unlawfully to a register of chemically contaminated sites and to receive nearly 188,000 euros for its cleanup. The planned funding was 95 percent from European Union funds and 5 percent from the Šilutė district municipal budget. The court also found that the actions caused substantial non-material damage to the state, the municipality and its controlled company.
The appeals court’s ruling took effect when it was announced and may be challenged at the Supreme Court of Lithuania.