Vilnius prosecutors seek self-governance body and probe of former deputy

Vilnius prosecutors are seeking to establish a self-governance council and have asked the prosecutor general to investigate former deputy Gintas Ivanauskas over alleged interference with a prosecutors’ union, LRT reported, citing the ELTA news agency.

The proposed Prosecutors’ Council would address appointments to senior positions and the organisation of work in the prosecution service. Its proponents want a body similar to the Judicial Council in the court system.

The Prosecutors’ Professional Union says Ivanauskas obstructed its lawful activities and sought to discredit and weaken it. In a petition to Prosecutor General Nida Grunskienė, the union asked her to assess whether his actions showed signs of obstructing union activity, abuse of office or violations of the Trade Unions Act. The Prosecutor General’s Office confirmed it had received the petition and would examine it under the law.

The union’s account says that in February 2022, Ivanauskas, then a deputy prosecutor general and chair of the Chief Prosecutors’ Selection Commission, visited union chair Julius Rėksnys and demanded that the union replace commission member Gintaras Jasaitis. The union says Jasaitis had refused to complete candidate assessment forms when a selection process involved only one applicant.

According to the petition, Rėksnys replied that only the union council could decide the matter by vote. Ivanauskas then allegedly warned that if the unions resisted the prosecution service’s leadership or publicly criticised its actions, they could be removed from provisions of the Prosecution Service Act and replaced by a works council.

The union says that threat began to be implemented when a proposed amendment to the Prosecution Service Act was registered in Parliament on December 5, 2025.

Prosecutors have previously complained to the country’s authorities about alleged workplace bullying by the prosecution service’s leadership, which they say has involved internal investigations and other actions. Rėksnys told ELTA that workplace bullying exists in Lithuania even though there may be no cases formally classified as such.