Мантас Данелюс в суде 2 октября 2023 г. Фото: P. Peleckis / BNS photo
Lithuanian citizen Mantas Danelius, convicted of spying for Belarus, filed a complaint with a Lithuanian court demanding the initiation of a “spy exchange” with Belarus. On May 20, the Regional Administrative Court rejected Danelius’s complaint, the court’s press service reported.
In May last year, Danelius appealed to the Lithuanian president and the presidential office requesting that his exchange for Lithuanian citizens imprisoned in Belarus be initiated. The presidential office replied that it had reviewed his requests.
In his complaint to the court, Danelius demanded that the presidential office’s letter be annulled, that his exchange be initiated and that he be awarded €100,000 in compensation for moral damages.
The court reviewed the case materials and concluded that the presidential office’s reply was informational in nature and did not produce legal consequences. The demand to revoke the letter was deemed unfounded.
The court also noted that neither administrative courts nor the presidential office have the authority to initiate “spy exchanges”. Decisions on pardons or exchanges may be made by the president of Lithuania.
Danelius’s claim for compensation was also rejected.
In September 2024, the Vilnius Regional Court sentenced Vilnius-based lawyer Mantas Danelius to nine years in prison on charges of spying for Belarus.
According to the prosecution, since 2022 Danelius had collected information for Belarusian intelligence services about Belarusian activists in Lithuania and passed it to propagandist Ksenia Lebedzeva. Prosecutors stated that Lebedzeva was particularly interested in Belarusian organisations in Lithuania, activists, methods of entering Lithuania, information on 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.