LRT English Newsletter – August 14, 2026.
For 23 years, one man moved through parishes in southeastern Lithuania – and, prosecutors say, quietly kept a secret nobody at his own Church or parishes ever suspected. But now that secret became a criminal case, and a national reckoning over how the Catholic Church, and the state, handle allegations of sexual abuse against children.
Vilnius prosecutors have referred to court a priest accused of sexual crimes against minors over two decades – from 2002 to 2025 – 34 charges, including two counts of raping a minor, with 11 recognised victims aged 12 to 18 at the time. In a separate but related case, a second priest faces a charge of possessing child pornography.
Neither prosecutors nor the Archdiocese have named either man publicly, though Lithuanian outlet Delfi has identified them as 56-year-old Tadas Švedavičius and 51-year-old Ryšardas Peciunas, respectively. The Archdiocese says one has admitted guilt, but didn’t say which.
Critics are confused over the prosecutors’ decision to withhold the names, since they’re easily identifiable using publicly available information. They also argue that withholding the names makes it harder for other potential victims to come forward, even as they acknowledged the counter-risk of vigilante backlash if names were released.
