Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda is asking for the country's Judicial Council's advice on the dismissal of five judges embroiled in a major corruption case.
The president signed decrees, addressed to the Judicial Council, asking for its advice regarding the dismissal of Viktoras Kazys of the Court of Appeal, Henrich Jaglinski, a judge of Vilnius Regional Court, Arūnas Kaminskas of Vilnius Regional Administrative Court, Gintaras Čekanauskas of Kaunas District Administrative Court, Robertas Rainys of Vilnius City District Court.
Several weeks ago, Nauseda also initiated the dismissal of Egidijus Lauzikas, a judge of the Supreme Court, and Valdimaras Bavejanas and Konstantin Gurin, both judges of the Court of Appeal.
Last week, the Judicial Council postponed the issue of the judges' dismissal until the upcoming Friday.
Read more: Judicial Council postpones decision on senior judges named in corruption probe
Speaking with BNS, Algimantas Valantinas, president of the Judicial Council, could not say if the issue would be discussed on Friday.
"There's no final decision," Valantinas said.
If the Judicial Council approves, the president will have to turn to the Seimas over the dismissal of the judges of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal. Meanwhile, the president can dismiss the lower-rank judges himself.
Lawmakers have already collected signatures over the impeachment of Gurin, Kazys, Pabejanas and Laužikas.
Six lawyers are among the 48 suspected people, involving 110 criminal acts.
Law enforcement suspects the judges could have offered and paid bribes ranging from 1,000 to 100,000 euros in exchange for favorable court rulings. The total amount of bribes could amount to 400,000 euros, based on evidence collected during the pre-trial investigation.
