Prosecutor demands 11 years for Lithuanian lawyer charged with spying for Belarus
August 12, Pozirk. The prosecutor has demanded 11 years in prison for Lithuanian lawyer Mantas Danielius on trial in Vilnius since October on charges of spying for Belarus, Delfi reported.
The verdict is expected on September 20.
Danielius refused to testify and said in his closing statement that “voluntary gathering of information” is not espionage.
The defendant admitted that he cooperated with Belarus 1 propagandist Ksienija Lebiedzieva.
However, investigators have failed to prove Lebiedzieva’s connection to Belarusian secret services, he claimed.
The Vilnius Regional Court began the trial of Danielius, accused of spying on Belarusian opposition leaders and interfering with witnesses, in October.
According to investigators, since January 2022 Danielius carried out assignments for a Belarusian woman cooperating with her country’s intelligence service, BNS reported.
The news agency quoted prosecutors as saying that Lithuania had launched a pre-trial investigation in late September 2022, after receiving “reasonable evidence” that Danielius had allegedly been “collecting and passing on information of interest.”
Under the guise of a volunteer, the defendant allegedly maintained contacts with Belarusian pro-democracy organizations operating in Lithuania and Belarusians who moved to Lithuania after the presidential election in August 2020, the investigators said.
“Danielius visited the Belarusian opposition organizations, participated in their events, collected and shared information about their activities, ongoing projects, sources of funding, members and meetings,” they said.
BNS reported that Lebiedzieva, who allegedly recruited the defendant and cooperated with a Belarusian intelligence service, instructed Danielius on methods of collecting and transferring the “information of interest.”
Belarusian intelligence allegedly asked for information on Belarusian opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja.
Danielius is also accused of “collecting and possibly transferring” information about the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment, a Belarusian volunteer unit fighting alongside the Ukrainian forces.
Members of Belarusian organizations reported the lawyer’s “suspicious activities” to law enforcers.
The man had been tried on charges “falsification of documents, fraud and other crimes.”
Also read: Trial of lawyer in Belarusian espionage case begins in Lithuania