Criminal Code of Lithuania

Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania (Lietuvos Respublikos baudžiamasis kodeksas, abbreviated LR BK) is the prime source of law of Lithuania concerning criminal offences.

The Criminal Code came into force together with the Code of Criminal Process, Code of Punishment Execution and Code of Administrative Offenses.

History
The origins of the criminal code can be traced back to the Statutes of Lithuania, enacted in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 16th century, and later in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. They codified certain penalties and punishments, including the use of capital punishment.

The new Criminal Statute was adopted by the Republic of Lithuania on 16 January 1919. It was based on the Russian Criminal Code of 1903 with substantial amendments, including the removal of the capital punishment. Following the Soviet occupation, the criminal code was replaced with the Soviet one in 1961.

After the restoration of independence there were substantial amendments to the law in the 1990s, but a new criminal code, following a major reform, was enacted only in 2000, and entered force in 2003. There have been further substantial amendments to the criminal law since Lithuania joined the European Union in 2004.