Belarusian Spy Convicted In Lithuania Appealed

Romualdas Lipskis appealed against the decision of the Vilnius District Court, which had found him guilty of spying for Belarus and had sentenced him to 8 years in prison.

“I filed an appeal yesterday. We applied for judgment of acquittal because we see no elements of a crime in his actions, there was no espionage, just trivialities and everyday conversations”, - attorney for the defense Snaiguole Mazheikene said.

The appeal will be reviewed in the Court of Appeal of Lithuania, BNS reports (translated by charter97.org).

“If he is not declared not guilty, we will go to the end, as far as Strasbourg Court”, - Lipskis’ defender says, while Lipskis himself has being kept in Lukiskes pre-trial detention facility for two years already.

The court ruled that the convicted may serve his sentence in a house of correction. The defender estimated that due to the fact that the investigation detention period is included into the term of serving the sentence, and taking into account the prisoner's good behavior, he may be released after 2-3 months after the beginning of serving the sentence.

Lipskis was accused of making pictures of airfield infrastructure and copying documents in his office Oro navigacija, and then forwarding them to the GRU of Belarus.