Siauliai Regional Court earlier issued prison sentences of four years and nine months to Jurijus Mironovas and Kazimieras Rupsys but the Court of Appeal reduced the sentences to four years for Mironovas and to four years and six months for Rupsys.
Judge Justas Numavicius of the Court of Appeal said the sentences were reduced after the court annulled the part of the regional court's ruling that the convicts acted in an organized group.
"(The court – BNS Lithuania) annulled the organized group characteristic, stating that a foreign intelligence organization is already organized," prosecutor Redas Savickas told BNS Lithuania.
In his words, Rupsys remained the key spy and Mironovas was recognized as his spying assistant.
Both defendants pleaded guilty during the start of the case hearing.
Based on the case materials, starting in the fall of 2014, the espionage activities at the Aviation Base involved photographing official documents, the layouts of premises and the airport, plans and facilities, and orders and decisions by the command, and other non-public but not classified data for a foreign intelligence agency.
Secret meetings with Russian intelligence officers were held in Russia or other foreign countries and various conspiracy measures were involved.
Both defendants were detained on December 11, 2017 after law enforcement officers received information from Lithuanian intelligence institutions on the transfer of information to a foreign intelligence institution and suspected espionage.