On April 10, 2025, the Šiauliai District Court found that he had collected information in favor of Russia. He was sentenced to 8 years and 6 months in prison.
Manovas was a deputy of the ruling party “Union of Fatherland - Christian Democrats of Lithuania”. Officially, he was convicted for collecting “unclassified but important information” in favor of Russia.
Earlier, the head of the State Security Department, Darius Jauniškis, said that Manovas was faking his old age. He claimed that Manovas was pretending to be blind and had other health problems. In his opinion, this was an attempt to soften the measure of restraint for the politician.
Manovas was accused of collecting information of interest to Russia, which he passed to the GRU, on the instructions of the Russian military intelligence agency GRU and acting as part of an organized group with Russian intelligence officers, unidentified by the investigation, between 2018 and 2024 for monetary remuneration.
The case was considered in closed mode. The defendant was under arrest, and this preventive measure was in effect for him until the first half of April.
Manovas, who had Lithuanian and Russian citizenship, was detained in January last year. He was found to be in possession of supplies used for espionage.
Manovas ran for the Šiauliai City Council in 2011 from the conservative party Union of Fatherland - Lithuanian Christian Democrats (SO - LCD) and was a council member of the Šiauliai branch of the Lithuanian Union of Political Prisoners and Exiles.
After the prosecutor's office publicized the accusations, the Siauliai branch of SO-LCD expelled Manovas from the party in mid-December.