Prosecutors investigate alleged harassment by research centre scientist
Tuesday 13th October 2026 on 19:15 in
Lithuania
Lithuania’s prosecutor’s office has opened a pre-trial investigation into allegations that a scientist at the Nature Research Centre sexually harassed an employee, LRT reported. The 24-year-old employee said the alleged incident took place at his supervisor’s country home.
The investigation concerns suspected harassment of a person who is subordinate through work or another relationship. The law cited in the case covers vulgar or similar conduct intended to seek sexual contact or gratification.
The employee, who studies biological diversity at Vilnius University and works at the centre, said he and his supervisor stayed at the country home in June after agreeing to travel back together from a scientific event in the region. He alleges that his supervisor pressured him to drink alcohol, expected him to be naked in a hot tub, touched his foot and knee, and made inappropriate comments about his genitals and the attraction he allegedly felt towards him.
The employee also alleged that he woke during the night to find his supervisor touching his genitals and looking at them by phone light, possibly taking photographs or recording video. He said the supervisor then hugged him and lay beside him. The employee said he had not consented to the conduct and did not resist because the man was both his manager at the centre and his academic supervisor at university. He said he feared losing his job or facing other consequences.
The prosecutor’s office granted the employee whistleblower status. It opened the investigation after he appealed to court: Vilnius District Court ordered prosecutors to reconsider their decision, and Vilnius Regional Court upheld that order.
The scientist had previously acknowledged being at the country home with the employee but denied any improper conduct. LRT said it was withholding both men’s names because the opening of an investigation does not establish guilt.
The Nature Research Centre conducted an internal inquiry and concluded that the incident involved a private relationship outside working hours. It found no sufficient connection between what allegedly happened at the private country home and the work environment.