Norway’s highest court has rejected an appeal from a Lithuanian man convicted of murdering the young daughter of his former Lithuanian partner in her home outside Bergen. The death of eight-year-old Monika Sviglinskaja received broad media coverage, also because local police initially determined that the child had committed suicide.
After a whistleblower and public outcry prodded the police to reopen the investigation, they eventually arrested Donatas Lukosevicius, the former partner of Monika’s mother who had immediately told police she suspected he was behind her daughter’s death by strangulation. He was convicted after two rounds in court that were traumatic for the mother and many others involved.
Now Norway’s supreme court has relieved her of the trauma of another court trial. It determined that both lower courts had sufficiently tried the case and that former defense attorneys for Lukosevicius had represented him correctly when initially giving up his final right to appeal. He changed his mind after the deadline to forego an appeal, but the high court ruled against him. He now faces a lengthy prison sentence.
newsinenglish.no staff
