BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

07/12/2006

Poland seeks extradition of alleged Belarusian spy from Lithuania

Poland has asked Lithuania to hand over a Belarusian national who was recently detained on suspicion of espionage, VOA reports. Lithuanian prosecutors said December 4 they received an extradition request from Polish law enforcement authorities. After the document is translated the request will be reviewd by the Vilnius district court, Telegraf.by online edition writes, referring to Lithuania's Chief Public Prosecutor's Office. The extradition procedure may last up to six weeks.

The arrested Sergey Monich is being held in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, on a one-month detention order. Polish prosecutors say Monich collected information on Polish intelligence agents and gathered classified documents. They say he travelled to other countries on a tourist visa and recruited potential contacts there. Belarus KGB has already called the detention of Sergey Monich a provocation.

Polish national prosecutor Janusz Kaczmarek said earlier that the Belarusian citizen arrested on allegations of espionage was trying to glean information about Polish intelligence agents, he has been in contact with several Polish citizens for two years, offering money for classified information, including names of intelligence officials.

Arvydas Pocius, General Director of the State Security Department of Lithuania (VSD), said at a briefing in Vilnius that the VSD would clear out what contacts the detained person was having and what had been his interests in Lithuania.

Source:

http://www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=1156

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