Five persons – 45-year-old Orlin Roussev, 42-year-old Bizer Dzhambazov, 32-year-old Katrina Ivanova, 31-year-old Ivan Stoyanov and 29-year-old Vania Gaberova – are accused of conspired with another person known as Jan Marzalek and other unknown persons to collect information that could directly or indirectly benefit Moscow.
Mr. Marsalek has not been charged in the UK case.
The five defendants at London’s Central Criminal Court (The Old Bailey) appeared via video link.
Judge Jeremy Baker extended the remand of all five defendants until March and announced that the trial will take place on October 28 next year. The trial is expected to last four months.
Each of them was charged with conspiring to collect information that would directly or indirectly benefit Moscow in order to harm the security and interests of other states.
At the beginning of the year, anti-terrorism detectives arrested the aforementioned five persons suspected of having committed a criminal act under the State Secrets Act.
Much of the alleged espionage took place overseas but was coordinated in the UK.
It is stated that these alleged crimes were committed from August 30, 2020 to February 8 last year.
O. Roussev, B. Dzhambazov and K. Ivanova were charged in mid-February with possessing forged identity documents with unlawful intent.
#charged #Bulgarian #citizens #spying #Russia
2024-09-23 10:26:31
