The Klaipėda Regional Court on Wednesday found Mindaugas Januitis and Tatjana Beleckaja guilty of spying for Belarus and sentenced them to prison.
Januitis was sentenced to seven years, while Beleckaja received six and a half years. The court said more than two years already spent in custody will be deducted from their sentences.
The case was heard behind closed doors, with Judge Edita Lapinskienė reading only the introductory and final parts of the verdict.
The court ruled that the pair conducted espionage while carrying out tasks for a foreign state or its organisation and acted as part of an organised group.
Both defendants will remain in custody until the verdict takes effect. The ruling can be appealed to the Lithuanian Court of Appeal within 20 days.
The court also ordered the confiscation of more than 8,500 euros belonging to Beleckaja and 997 euros obtained from the sale of a car owned by Januitis. Additional items linked to the case – including mobile phones, a Toyota Corolla with its contents and a dashboard camera – will also be confiscated.
According to case files, the two Lithuanian citizens travelled to Minsk in May 2022, where they agreed through an intermediary to cooperate with representatives of Belarusian military structures.
Law enforcement officials said that from that meeting until their arrest in November 2023, the couple carried out tasks for the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Belarusian Ministry of Defence.
On behalf of the organisation and in exchange for financial or other rewards, they collected and transmitted information of interest to foreign military structures in Lithuania and Latvia.
The court found the couple received at least 8,500 euros for their activities. The intelligence service sought information related to the Lithuanian Armed Forces, volunteer forces, the Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union, NATO allied military equipment and the activities of the Belarusian opposition.
Authorities said the information was gathered by monitoring civilian and military sites, military movements, public events and exercises using mobile phones, cameras and dashboard recorders. The pair maintained strict secrecy and met intelligence representatives in Belarus covertly.
Although the information passed to Belarus was not classified, the court said it was valuable to foreign armed forces preparing potential military aggression or other actions against Lithuania.
One of the defendants had joined the Riflemen’s Union with the intent to spy for Belarus. The organisation said it expelled the individual in 2024.
The case was referred to the court in March 2025.
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