Мантас Данелюс в суде 2 октября 2023 г. Фото: P. Peleckis / BNS photo
Vilnius resident Mantas Danelius, convicted of spying for Belarus and serving a nine-year sentence in Pravieniškės-2 prison, has filed a lawsuit against Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda. As reported by LRT, citing ELTA, he is challenging responses from the presidential office to his requests regarding a “spy exchange” and is seeking €100,000 in compensation for moral damages.
The complaint is due to be examined next week by the Regional Administrative Court of Lithuania.
Back in May 2025, Danelius appealed to the president to initiate his exchange for Lithuanian citizens imprisoned in Belarus.
“Since the Criminal Code of Lithuania предусматривает the role of the president in initiating spy exchanges, I ask His Excellency Gitanas Nausėda to initiate my exchange with Belarus, as Lithuanian citizens — A. Kerbelis and others — are imprisoned in Belarus for spying for Lithuania. (…) I would be grateful if the president immediately initiates the exchange in accordance with the procedure established by law,” he wrote in his appeal.
The presidential office suggested submitting a pardon request through the prison administration, but the prison refused to conduct negotiations on exchanges with foreign states, citing a lack of authority. Danelius’s lawyer has also refused to contact foreign embassies due to “fears of persecution” by the State Security Department.
In its response to the court, the presidential office said it disagrees with Danelius’s complaint.
“In responses dated May 19 and 20, 2025, the applicant was informed that his обращения had been received and reviewed. At the same time, it was not clear from these обращения that the applicant was specifically requesting a pardon,” the Presidential Chancellery said.
According to the embassy, eight Lithuanian citizens are currently imprisoned in Belarus. Among them is 35-year-old Miroslav Trotsky, sentenced in March 2026 to 15 years in a high-security penal colony on charges of espionage and agent activity. According to available information, he travelled to Belarus to visit relatives in autumn 2024 and was detained. His Telegram activity was limited to groups related to border crossing, and he did not publish materials on other social networks that could be interpreted as prohibited.
Such exchanges have taken place in Lithuania before. In 2019, Russian FSB officer Nikolai Filipchenko, convicted of espionage, was pardoned by presidential decree and handed over to Russia in exchange for three individuals.
In September 2024, the Vilnius Regional Court sentenced Vilnius lawyer Mantas Danelius to nine years in prison on charges of spying for Belarus.
According to the prosecution, since 2022 Danelius had been collecting information for Belarusian special services about Belarusian activists in Lithuania and passing it to propagandist Ksenia Lebedeva. Prosecutors said Lebedeva was particularly interested in Belarusian organisations in Lithuania, activists, their routes to Lithuania, the identities of people who helped them leave Belarus, training of volunteers from the Kalinouski Regiment, weapons and supply chains. Danelius gained the trust of Belarusian organisations by offering legal assistance.
The Lithuanian Court of Appeal upheld the nine-year sentence. The verdict entered into force in May 2025, but may still be appealed to the Supreme Court.