Sept 26, 2023. Posted by Balkan Periscope - Hellas
A court in the UK on September 26 formally charged five Bulgarian citizens
with espionage. Orlin Rusev, Biser Dzhambazov, Katrin Ivanova, Vanya Gaberova
and Ivan Stoyanov did not appear in court in person.
The charges against them are collecting information that could be used - directly or indirectly - in the interests of a foreign state. The interesting thing about this case is that the usual practice is for foreigners suspected of spying in the UK to be extradited directly, but this time a court case has been brought.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for October 13.
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The five Bulgarians accused of spying for Russia are to stand trial.
They are believed to have been collecting classified information and
passing it to Russia from August 2020 until February this year, when they were
detained.
"The espionage case is behind closed doors, and the great interest in
the subject is because such cases are rare in British courts, as the normal
procedure is usually to extradite the suspects directly," said BNR's
correspondent in Britain, Veselin Paunov.
They will also face a charge of falsifying documents, for which the penalty
is up to 10 years in prison.
For espionage, the sentence is up to 14 years behind bars.
BNR