Belarus jails two for spying for Lithuania

Iran Press TV

Fri Jan 3, 2014 3:10PM GMT

Belarus says its main military court has sentenced two Belarusian citizens to lengthy jail terms for committing spying activities for the neighboring country Lithuania.

The country's secret service KGB said in a statement on Friday that a military tribunal had found A. Fenzelyau and Ye Kochura guilty of treason. The two were sentenced to 10 and eight years in prison respectively.

In addition, the statement said the two were detained in March 2012 and that an investigation had found 'incontrovertible proof of their criminal activity."

Fenzelyau is a former military service member who moved to Lithuania after retiring from the Belarusian armed forces in 2002.

According to the Belarusian KGB, 'The Lithuanian intelligence service tasked him to create a spy ring in Belarus for collecting information about the Belarusian Air Force and Air Defense units. The Lithuanian security services rendered financial support to their agent in starting a commercial project in Belarus.'

The investigative operations produced 'electronic media and other objects and materials exposing espionage in the military sphere, including the Union State security network,' said State Security Committee spokesman Artur Strekh.

Experts say the data gathered and prepared to be handed over to the Lithuanian security services belonged to the category of Belarusian state secrets.

In July 2012, the Belarusian secret service reported that a Lithuanian military intelligence agent and several informants had been arrested as they traded secret information regarding Belarusian security.

The KGB has not released any details on the number of informants or their nationalities and it was not immediately clear if the case was linked to the spying activities conducted by Fenzelyau and Kochura.

CAH/AB