“I inform you that K. Bartoševičius personally returned his identity card to the court today. Yes, he came to the court himself and returned the document”, Jolita Gudelienė, representative of the Panevėžys district court, wrote in her reply to Elta on Tuesday.
ELTA reminds that in June the court allowed the accused to leave Lithuania during the summer period he requested. The court also temporarily returned K. Bartošević’s personal documents, indicating that he must return the identity card to the court by August 21. If the accused had not done so, he could have been subject to stricter pre-trial detention measures.
K. Bartošević is subject to two pre-trial detention measures – documents were taken from him, and he has also signed a pledge not to leave his place of residence. In the spring, the documents were also temporarily returned to him while the elections were held.
Although the prosecutor and the representatives of the victims objected to the defendant’s request to go abroad, the court stated that pretrial measures cannot restrict a person’s freedom more than is necessary.
“A person who is subject to preventive measures limiting his freedom must be given the opportunity to leave when court hearings are not held, if he reasonably requests it. The reason given by the defendant’s defense counsel and the route of the trip do not hinder the justice process, therefore there are no reasons to prohibit him from leaving Lithuania during the specified period”, said the chairman of the panel of judges, judge Valdas Ciesiūnas.
K. Bartoševičius planned to go to Italy for a month.
During the hearing in June, the court began to review the videos of the interviews of the victimized children during the pre-trial investigation, the victims themselves are now not directly participating in the court process, they are represented by their parents and lawyers. One post viewed so far.
The next hearing of the case will be held on September 2.
ELTA reminds that more than a year ago, in 2023 In July, the pre-trial investigation against the former MP K. Bartoševičius was completed, the case regarding possible sexual crimes against children was transferred to the court. K. Bartoševičius is accused of sexual abuse of children (2 episodes), molestation of a person under the age of 16 (4 episodes) and minor health impairment of young children (4 episodes).
According to the prosecutor’s office, there are four victims in the case who were minors at the time of the crimes committed against them.
K. Bartoševičius, a member of the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats faction in the Seimas at the time, announced last year, on January 23, that he was renouncing his mandate as a member of the Seimas due to personal reasons. Later that day, the prosecutor’s office announced that an investigation had been opened against him for possible sexual crimes against minors.
According to the prosecutor’s office, the available data of the pre-trial investigation allow us to suspect that the criminal acts were committed while the suspect was a member of the Seimas.
The news portal “Delfi” announced that it is suspected that K. Bartoševičius molested the pupils of the boys’ and youth choir “Ažuoliukas”.
2024-08-21 01:35:47