Lithuania’s top court to hear former Marijampolė mayor’s appeal
Thursday 8th October 2026 on 15:45 in
Lithuania
Lithuania’s Supreme Court will hear an appeal by former Marijampolė Mayor Povilas Isoda, who was convicted in a municipal expense reimbursement case and is seeking to overturn the ruling, LRT reported.
The court’s selection panel accepted Isoda’s appeal on Thursday. The case will be heard in written proceedings, Supreme Court spokeswoman Tautvilė Merkevičiūtė told the ELTA news agency.
Isoda is asking the court to overturn the Court of Appeal’s conviction and restore the first-instance court’s acquittal. Alternatively, he wants the appellate ruling overturned and the case sent back for a new hearing.
In July, the Court of Appeal overturned Isoda’s acquittal and fined him 10,000 euros, while banning him from public service for three years. The ruling took effect immediately, and the Central Electoral Commission ended his term as mayor early. Valdas Tumelis was appointed acting mayor.
According to the case file, Isoda obtained 2,479 euros in municipal funds by submitting documents to the Marijampolė municipality’s accounts department that prosecutors said were falsified. They included 26 council member expense summaries and 11 expense reports. Authorities said the reports contained false claims for phone, internet and transport costs linked to his council work.
During the trial, Kaunas District Prosecutor Darius Valkavičius said Isoda had used other people’s payment cards to buy fuel. The prosecutor cited instances in which fuel was purchased at least 15 times on the same day and at the same minute, as well as three purchases in one day within a very short period.
Isoda has written on Facebook that he returned 4,748 euros to the municipal budget in November 2023 after an audit identified payments that could raise questions about their justification.
The case is part of a wider investigation into municipal politicians’ use of public funds, launched by activist Andrius Tapinas under the name Skaidrinam. The resulting scandal prompted law enforcement scrutiny of numerous municipalities.