Law enforcement completes probe into Lithuanian man accused of spying for Belarus

VILNIUS – Lithuanian law enforcement authorities have completed investigating the case of Mantas Danielius, a Vilnius resident suspected of spying for Belarus, and are preparing to hand it over to the court for trial next week.

The pre-trial investigation in this case was carried out by the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau and supervised by the Vilnius District Prosecutor’s Office.

"The case was handed over to the prosecutor's office for the drafting of the indictment, and the suspect was provided with the material for information. The case is about to be forwarded to court," Prosecutor Giedrius Tarasevicius told BNS.

Danielius is suspected of having abducted, purchased, or otherwise collected and transferred information that constitutes a Lithuanian state secret or other information of interest to the intelligence services of a foreign state in the course of carrying out a task for another state.

He is suspected of espionage, which is punishable by imprisonment from six to 15 years.

In early February, the court released Danielius from custody, where he had spent four months. The man was ordered to wear an ankle tag and had his ID documents taken from him.

Later that month, however, the court ordered him back into custody due to repeated violations of the conditions of the lighter measure of restraint and the obligation not to communicate or seek contact with certain persons. 

A pre-trial investigation into possible impact on witnesses was opened afterwards and two episodes were identified. These actions were investigated together with the espionage case.

Danielius remains in custody and keeps appealing against the courts' decisions to extend the most restrictive detention measure, but the courts are not upholding his appeals.