Vilnius District Court granted the request of the Prosecutor’s Office and extended the term of detention to the citizen of Lithuania, Mantas Danielius, charged with espionage in favor of Belarus, for another two months. This was reported by the national radio portal LRT.

Danielius is suspected of “stealing, buying or gathering in another way and transferring information constituting a state secret of the Republic of Lithuania or other information of interest to foreign intelligence on the instruction of a foreign state or its organization.” Mantas Danielius is facing imprisonment for the term from 6 to 15 years.

Mantas Danielius was detained at the end of September for two months, which constituted the maximum term of the restrictive measure. The reason for the detention was the police report filed on June 9, 2022, by Olga Karach, in which she stated her suspicion that Mantas Danielius conducted espionage for the KGB of Belarus and collaborated with it. Later, similar reports were filed with the Lithuanian special services by other Belarusian organizations.

As a reminder, at the beginning of the year 2022, the lawyer Mantas Danielius appeared on the horizon of the Belarusian diaspora in Lithuania. Pretending to be providing volunteer legal assistance, Danielius attempted to infiltrate and intervene with the activity of different organizations helping Belarusians in Lithuania, running from the regime of Lukashenka.

As it later became clear, his main aim was to get access to personal data of the employees, volunteers and people, who obtained help; most of all, the Belarusian special services were interested in the schemes of escape of Belarusian citizens under repressions through the Lithuanian border in order to prevent such escapes.

The greatest interest is drawn to the biggest structures, such as Our House and Dapamoga. There is evidence, that Mantas Danielius attempted to infiltrate organizations helping the families of political prisoners inside Belarus; unfortunately, there are reasons to believe that he has obtained some sensitive information from them.

Our House has published the materials on the activity of Mantas Danielius, who tried to gain trust of the Belarusian diaspora in Vilnius.

The pre-trial investigation against Mantas Danielius, started in collaboration with the State Security Department of Lithuania, is conducted by the officers of the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau and is headed by the Prosecutor’s Office of Vilnius district.

In anticipation of the trial for possible espionage, Danielius is also under investigation on suspicion of falsification of documents and their use conducted by the Vilnius Regional Court. The crimes are believed to have been committed in 2014-2015.

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