The fine was proposed by Saulius Verseckas of the Prosecutor General's Office, saying that Uspaskich's conduct exhibited "extraordinary disrespect of the court."
Judge Daiva Pranytė-Zalieckienė said the defendant's behavior was abusive. "All participants of the trial are waiting for half a day for nobody knows what, there are reasons to believe this is abuse," said the judge.
Originally planned to start on Friday morning, the hearing of the Labor Party's bookkeeping fraud case was postponed to 1 PM after Uspaskich, one of the defendants, did not appear in court room and said on the phone that he was undergoing medical tests at a clinic in Kaunas, a city 100km northwest of the capital Vilnius.
After the defendant failed to appear by 1 PM, his lawyers said Uspaskich was on his way to the capital city.
The court imposed the fine and decided to postpone the hearing to May 2. Uspaskich arrived shortly after.
State prosecutor in the so-called bookkeeping fraud case, prosecutor Saulius Verseckas of the Prosecutor General's Office was to start reading his closing argument on Friday. He said the speech contained 185 pages.
Closing argument usually covers evidence, and the prosecutor gives his opinion as to whether the defendants should be found guilty.
The Labor Party is on trial for failing to include more than 24 million litas in income and 23 million litas in spending in its books in the 2004-2006 period. Charges have been brought against its leader Uspaskich, his deputy Vytautas Gapšys, MP Vitalija Vonžutaitė, and the party's former accountant Marina Liutkevičienė.
The Labor Party's representatives emphatically reject the accusations, saying the case is politically motivated. The case reached court back in 2008.
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| Uspaskich's car |
