On Tuesday, the prosecutor’s office announced that a Catholic Church priest working in the Vilnius Archdiocese has been charged with sexual crimes against minors.
“The essence of the charges against the clergyman is as follows, i.e. charges have been brought for 34 intentional misdemeanors, serious and very serious crimes, including those against freedom of choice and inviolability, as well as crimes against children, and also episodes of crimes against morality,” said Justas Laucius, chief prosecutor of the Vilnius District Prosecutor’s Office, at a specially organized press conference.
According to him, the priest is also accused of raping two minors, as well as one episode classified in the Criminal Code as a very serious crime – sexual rape of a minor.
He stated that the crimes were committed over 23 years:
“From the case data, it follows that these crimes were committed, as stated in the indictment, from 2002 until 2025, i.e. 23 years.”
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Eleven persons, who were between 12 and 18 years old at the time the crimes were committed, have been recognized as victims in the case.
Although the prosecutor refused to disclose the priest’s name, the Vilnius Archdiocese representative, priest Mykolas Sotničenka, who also commented on this story, did not do so either, but information quickly appeared in the public that this was the former pastor of Kalesninkai and Dubičiai, Tadas Švedavičius.
Previously, this priest also worked in other parishes in the Šalčininkai and Trakai districts.
Remembered both from Rūdiškės and Kalesninkai
15min interviewed Member of Parliament Jaroslav Narkevič about this emerging story of the priest’s crimes, as he is currently elected in the Šalčininkai–Vilnius constituency and previously worked in Trakai, where he also lived. From photos on social networks, it can be seen that J. Narkevič and T. Švedavičius participated in several official and unofficial events and have known each other for at least 10 years.
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