Lithuania's highest court upholds eight-year prison sentence for murder in Sweden
A 32-year-old Lithuanian man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for killing a 57-year-old compatriot with a punch to the face in Enhorna, Sweden. Lithuania's highest court rejected the appeal and upheld the appellate court's guilty verdict.
Lithuania's highest court upholds eight-year prison sentence for murder in Sweden
Lithuania's highest court has rejected a 32-year-old man's appeal and upheld an eight-year prison sentence for a fatal attack on a compatriot in Sweden. The judgment, delivered on 30 June 2026, concludes a legal process that attracted considerable attention in the home country.
The incident occurred on 20 October 2023 in a rented house in Enhorna, a locality in Sweden where several Lithuanians lived and worked. A conflict arose between two compatriots – the then 32-year-old Paulius Pelekevičius from Pasvalys municipality and a 57-year-old man. During the argument, Pelekevičius allegedly delivered a punch to the victim's face. The man fell backwards and struck his head hard against the floor. He subsequently died from head injuries.
Swedish police investigated the case and established that Pelekevičius was responsible for the fatal blow. Forensic experts confirmed that the cause of death was head trauma. A striking detail in the investigation was that Pelekevičius subsequently sent a picture of the victim to a friend – the image was decorated with smileys.
The legal process in Lithuania took several turns. In April 2025, Panevėžys District Court acquitted Pelekevičius and determined that he had acted in self-defence. The prosecutor appealed the judgment, however. In December 2025, the appellate court overturned the acquittal, found the man guilty of murder under article 129 of Lithuania's criminal code, and sentenced him to eight years in prison.
Pelekevičius appealed to the highest instance and requested that the appellate court's guilty verdict be overturned and that the district court's acquittal be upheld. His defence was based on the claim that he had acted under self-defence circumstances.
The Supreme Court, however, found that the arguments were unfounded and that the appellate court had made a correct assessment of the facts. "Lithuania's Supreme Court judges have rejected the cassation appeal of the convicted Paulius Pelekevičius concerning murder [article 129, first paragraph of the criminal code]. The arguments in the cassation appeal that the convicted person acted under self-defence circumstances are unfounded and should be rejected, whilst the factual circumstances of the case were assessed correctly in the appellate court," stated Tautvilė Merkevičiūtė, press officer at Lithuania's Supreme Court, to the news portal Lrytas.lt.
With the Supreme Court's decision, the eight-year prison sentence stands for Pelekevičius.
Source: Lrytas.lt
Source: Lrytas.lt