Follow-up
Cases before the European court identified unreasonable delays across the Lithuanian justice system, in civil, criminal and administrative cases.
Between 2010 and 2014, a series of significant and wide-ranging reforms were made to ensure timely access to justice in the Lithuanian courts. These included changes to the Criminal Procedure Code, the Code of Civil Procedure and the Law on Administrative Proceedings.
These changes led to a significant drop in the average length of legal proceedings. By 2013 the average time taken for proceedings to be concluded was well under two years.
A procedure to obtain compensation for unreasonable delays was also introduced, which the European court recognised as being effective in 2013.