4 minutes agoBritain condemns three Bulgarian spies working for Russia
Periskopi(a year ago)
(a year ago)Three Bulgarian citizens accused of spying on Russia have been found guilty after the court heard they were involved in a host of plots about Europe led by a Moscow-based fugitive. After more than 32 hours of discussion, a jury at Old Bailey made unanimous decisions for Katrin Ivanova, [...]
Three Bulgarian citizens accused of spying on Russia have been found guilty after the court heard they were involved in a host of plots about Europe led by a Moscow-based fugitive.
After more than 32 hours of discussion, a jury at Old Bailey made unanimous decisions for Katrin Ivanova, 33, lab technician Vanya Gaberova, 30, aesthetic and Tihomir Ivanchev, 39, painter and decorators, who all lived in London before their arrest.
The three were sentenced as new members of a spying network directed by Jan Marsalek, an Austrian businessman who had fled to Russia in 2020 after a company he helped run went bankrupt after a 1.9 billion-euro fraud.
Marsalek led the hostile oversight of Christo Grozev, an investigative journalist who helped involve Russian spies in poisoning opposition leader Alexei Navlany, Bulgaria, Austria and Spain. All three defendants were involved in the operation.
The spying master also led gang members, including Ivanova, to steal Ukrainian troops' mobile phone numbers believed to have been trained at an American barracks in Stuttgart, Germany, using a military-level wiretap that was not previously seen in the hands of criminals.
Marsalec communicated directly with the ring director, Orlin Roussev, 47, from the Great Yarmoutth, who in turn conducted surveillance activities by a former lion in the coastal town of Norfolk. The building was filled with electronic equipment and surveillance worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Roussev has already been convicted of spying charges, as has his friend and deputy, Bizer Dzhambasov, 43. But the other three members had denied the charge of spying, leading to a trial that lasted nearly three months.
The court also heard that Dzhambasov was in connection with the two girls -- Ivanova, his long-term partner, and Gaberova for a year and a half before their arrest. The third defendant, Ivanchev, was Geberova's former boyfriend.
The three were convicted of involvement in conspiracy, contrary to the 1st section of the Penal Law 1977. It has a maximum prison term of 14 years.
Of the three defendants, only Ivanchev was in court. Two women were present via video connection from. /ToopChannel
