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Panevėžys Regional Court has dismissed the appeal filed by a resident of Anykščiai district convicted of the unlawful manufacture, possession, transportation, and use of homemade firearms, upholding the judgment of the court of first instance, which imposed a final consolidated sentence of 60 days of detention (arrest) and a EUR 2,000 fine.

The court established that V. Urbanavičius illegally manufactured two homemade firearms prohibited from civil circulation at his homestead, adapted for firing 16-gauge and 12-gauge hunting cartridges.

He kept these weapons and industrially manufactured hunting cartridges acquired at an unspecified time at his homestead, and later transported them to a nearby forest. There, after driving a metal rod into the ground and stretching a cable attached to the handles of the weapon firing pins, he set up a homemade mechanism from which two shots were fired.

The dangerous homemade devices and spent cartridge cases were discovered and seized by environmental protection specialists and police officers.

In his appeal, the convicted person, V. Urbanavičius, sought a full acquittal or requested a suspension of the execution of the detention sentence imposed on him. He claimed that he did not manufacture the weapons, did not use them in the forest, and could not serve the sentence because there was no one to leave in charge of his farm. In court, the convicted person also presented theories that the items found at the homestead during the search might have belonged to his brother, who died several decades ago, and that the wild animal bones might have been brought into the yard by his dogs.

The Regional Court rejected these arguments of the convicted person as an unsubstantiated defense version, which was completely refuted by the objective evidence gathered in the case.

At the scene of the incident, officers found not only the homemade weapons, but also the hide of a yearling wild boar, an animal processing site, and a cigarette butt. Expert findings confirmed that the biological traces found on the butt matched the DNA of V. Urbanavičius.

Furthermore, testing of blood found on a countertop in the convicted person's home during the search showed that it was moose blood, even though V. Urbanavičius was not a licensed hunter. Experts also established that the threads, as well as plastic and paint materials from the weapons and disks found at the scene, fully matched items seized at the convicted person's homestead.

In reasoning why an actual sentence was imposed on the convicted person and why the suspension of its execution was refused, the court emphasized the dangerousness of the crime.

"The criminal offense committed by V. Urbanavičius is exceptionally dangerous, posing a risk not only to animal health and life, but also to human health and life," the judicial panel concluded.

The court also took into account the fact that the crime was committed while having an unspent criminal record, that V. Urbanavičius is characterized essentially negatively, and that he has not paid previously imposed fines.

Assessing the convicted person's arguments regarding the farm being left behind, the court noted that the law provides a clear procedure: when submitting the judgment for execution, the court sends a written order to the municipal executive authority regarding the preservation of the convicted person's property and housing.

The ruling of the Regional Court enters into force on the day of its pronouncement, but may still be appealed to the Supreme Court of Lithuania within three months.

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