Lithuanian lawyer convicted of spying for Belarus

September 20, Pozirk. The Vilnius District Court has sentenced Lithuanian lawyer Mantas Danielius to nine years in prison after finding him guilty of spying for Belarus, Delfi reports.

The sentence is two years shorter than requested by the prosecutor and can be appealed.

Investigators accused Danielius of collecting information on the Belarusian opposition and its leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja based in Vilnius for a Belarusian woman who allegedly passed it to Minsk’s intelligence services.

Danielius admitted that he cooperated with Belarus 1 propagandist Ksienija Lebiedzieva but said the investigators failed to prove her connections with the spy agency.

He refused to testify in court and said in his closing statement that “voluntary gathering of information” was not espionage.

Also read: Prosecutor demands 11 years for Lithuanian lawyer charged with spying for Belarus