The court granted the complaint of the prosecutor Ričardas Gailevičius from the Organized Crime and Corruption Investigation Division of the Kaunas District Prosecutor’s Office, which requested not to confirm the decision of the Probation Commission.
“Although the convicted Vytautas Gapšys demonstrated certain positive behavioral changes during the execution of the sentence related to previous commission recommendations, his resocialization process is still not sufficiently stable and reliable to conclude successful integration into society, especially since the crimes he committed were systematic,” the court ruling states.
The court also took into account that V. Gapšys was convicted for corruption-related crimes for the second time. The court believes this shows that the convict does not learn from mistakes, commits similar corruption crimes, and that the convict’s criminal behavior was not accidental but well planned.
“Therefore, the currently existing dynamic criminogenic factors, even in the context of low risk of criminal behavior, do not allow concluding that the conditionally released convict will obey the laws and refrain from reoffending,” the Kaunas District Court concluded.
The ruling can be appealed to the Kaunas Regional Court.
V. Gapšys has been imprisoned since November 2023, when the Lithuanian Court of Appeal found him guilty. The Supreme Court of Lithuania confirmed V. Gapšys’s guilt in October 2024, imposing a slightly milder sentence of four years and three months of imprisonment.
The former parliamentarian was convicted for receiving a €12,100 discount for political advertising for the Labour Party and €15,000 support for the institution “Art and Sports Projects” after promising to perform actions desired by the also imprisoned businessman Raimondas Kurlianskis.
In the “MG Group” political corruption case, former parliamentarian Eligijus Masiulis was also sentenced to imprisonment. He and R. Kurlianskis sought early release, but the courts have so far denied their requests.
Also convicted in this corruption case were former parliamentarians Šarūnas Gustainis and Gintaras Steponavičius, as well as three legal entities – the Liberal Movement, the Labour Party, and “MG Group.” They were collectively fined about €1.8 million.
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