People should face tougher punishments for spying for another country, Darius Jauniškis, director of Lithuania’s State Security Department, has said.
“In my opinion, our laws are too lenient towards spies, both the punishments themselves and the attitude are a bit too light,” he told the LRT RADIO on Wednesday.
For example, in Russia, spying is punishable by 15 to 20 years in prison, he noted.
“Here, the penalties are definitely lighter. When the situation is so tense and hot in the world, in our region, I think we should seriously think about tougher punishments for spies,” Jauniškis said.
Now in Lithuania, the Criminal Code stipulates that a court can impose a prison sentence ranging between four and 15 years for espionage.
“The sentencing of Paleckis and others has shown that the attitude of the courts is changing and that those who spied for another country are receiving quite tough punishments,” Jauniskis said.
Earlier this week, the Siauliai Regional Court began hearing the criminal case of Eduardas Manovas, who is accused of spying for Russia.
Jauniškis told the Žinių Radijas radio on Tuesday that Manovas is pretending to be blind and having other health problems, which is the basis for his request to the court to grant him a lighter remand measure than detention.
The man was arrested in January 2024 when he was found in possession of spying equipment. According to the prosecution service, Manovas had been spying since 2018, acting on behalf of the Russian military intelligence service GRU, and providing it with sensitive but not secret information about Lithuania.
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