Lithuania

ENTRY INTO FORCE of the European Convention on Human Rights

20 June 1995

Number of implemented cases*

103

Examples

Constitution changed after ex-president was banned for life from standing for parliament

Former president Rolandas Paksas was barred from running for parliament after the law was changed to stop any official who had been removed from office from standing in elections. The European court ruled that this lifelong ban violated Paksas’s rights. Lithuania responded to the European court’s judgment by changing the constitution to make the ban temporary.

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Justice for woman whose private health data was leaked to journalists

Gitana Biriuk took successful legal action against a newspaper that disclosed her HIV status. She only received a small amount in damages because of legal limits on what could be awarded. The European court ruled that these limits failed to protect Gitana’s right to privacy. By the time of the judgment, Lithuania had removed the upper limit on compensation awarded by its courts in such...

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Librarian strangled and beaten by her partner wins justice for domestic violence victims

Loreta Valiulienė told the authorities that she had been attacked by her partner. However, the public prosecutor repeatedly failed to investigate properly, until the case became time barred and the partner never faced justice. The European court ruled that these failures had violated Loreta's rights. A series of reforms were carried out to combat domestic violence in Lithuania.

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Unreasonably long legal proceedings lead to reforms to speed up access to justice

The European court identified numerous cases where legal proceedings in Lithuania had taken an unreasonably long time. One example was that of Donatas Šulcas, whose case lasted for almost nine years. Following rulings by the European court, a wide range of reforms were made to reduce delays in civil, commercial, administrative and criminal cases.

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Legal reforms after innocent hotel director was jailed for 14 months without proper evidence

Hotel director Juozas Jėčius was held for over 14 months whilst awaiting trial for murder. However, there had never been any proper evidence against him, and he was acquitted at trial. The European court ruled that Mr Jėčius’s incarceration had violated his right to liberty. Following the Court’s judgment, new measures were introduced to help avoid unjustified detention.

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* This figure includes all judgments and decisions from the European Court of Human Rights (including friendly settlements) concerning which the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers has decided that all necessary follow-up measures have been taken. Source: the database of the Department for the Execution of Judgments of the ECHR, HUDOC-EXEC.