They were found guilty of misappropriation of drugs during police searches, involvement in an organized group and other crimes, Jolita Gudeliene, spokeswoman for Panevezys Regional Court told BNS Lithuania.
Four officers who were not involved in the organized criminal group, as well as four civilians, were also sentenced. And four former police officers were acquitted due to lack of evidence.
The convicts also had their assets confiscated and the court also accepted civil lawsuits by legal and natural persons against them.
Elanas Jablonskas, the chief of the Police Department's Immunity Board, told BNS Lithuania that 14 out of the 18 persons convicted in this case were former police officers, including three police chiefs.
"Currently, all of the police officers either no longer work in the police or are suspended from service," he said.
The former police officers were accused of asset misappropriation, abuse of official position and exceeding authority, illegal possession of guns, ammunition, having the intention to distribute illegally acquired drugs, also of document forgery, false testimonies, false crime reports, and evidence forgery to launch criminal persecution against a person.
It's the first such case in the history of Lithuania's police.
The ruling can be appealed with the Court of Appeal within 20 days.