In July 2013, a Vilnius court found the party’s founder Viktor Uspaskich guilty of fraud and double bookkeeping, sentencing him to four years in prison. The party’s MP Vytautas Gapšys was fined over €10,000 and the party’s former accountant Marina Liutkevičienė was sentenced to one year in prison.
At the time, the fourth defendant in the case, MP Vitalija Vonžutaitė, was sentenced to three years in prison. Her case was later spun off as she could not attend court hearings due to ill health.
The verdict was appealed by both the defendants and the prosecutors. The latter want tougher sentences, namely, six-year jail term for Uspaskich, 1.5-year jail term for Gapšys and a year in prison for Liutkevičienė.
Prosecutor Saulius Verseckas of the Prosecutor General‘s Office also want the Labour Party imposed a fine of about €376,000.
Meanwhile the defendants are asking for acquittal, insisting that the case against them is politically motivated.
The Labour Party is charged with failing to include nearly €7 million in income and €6.6 million in spending in its books in the 2004-2006 period.
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