If found guilty, they may be sentenced to 14 years behind bars or to life imprisonment
Five people, including three Bulgarian citizens, were detained in London on suspicion of espionage for Russia, the BBC reported. The arrests are part of a major investigation by British authorities and took place as early as February 8, 2023.
The individuals are believed to have worked for the Russian security services. They were arrested under the Official Secrets Act by counter-terrorism detectives. The detained Bulgarians are 41-year-old Biser Jambazov, 31-year-old Katrin Ivanova and 45-year-old Orlin Rusev. Djambazov and Ivanova lived together in Harrow, north-west London. Rusev was settled in a coastal house in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.
They are accused of possessing identity documents with “unlawful intent” knowing they were false. This included passports for the United Kingdom, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Spain, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece and the Czech Republic. All the detainees have been released on bail. The police are expecting them again in September. They were last in court in July because of falsified documents.
The Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office also confirmed that it has been conducting an espionage investigation against the three detainees since March. From there, they specified that joint actions are being carried out with the National Security State Agency. At this stage, however, they refuse to reveal more, given that the pre-trial proceedings contain classified information. According to BTV, the investigation in our country began after a tip from investigative journalist Hristo Grozev at the beginning of the year. It is believed that they ordered people in Bulgaria to monitor his activities.
According to neighbors, Jambazov and Ivanova moved to Great Britain 10 years ago. He was an ambulance driver, and she was a laboratory technician. Together, since 2017, they also managed a Bulgarian public organization, which is claimed to be
inclusive the Bulgarians to “the culture
and the norms of British society”.
They also created a Bulgarian social platform in London for cheap English courses. They also relied on European funding, and some of the events they organized were attended by employees of the Bulgarian embassy. The two also participated in the electoral process of the Bulgarian parliamentary elections – Jambazov was the chairman of a section in a London district, and Ivanova – deputy chairman of a section in the embassy. Our ambassador in London, Marin Raykov, explained that they were proposed by the Bulgarian community, not by the state.
Orlin Rusev has a history of business dealings in Russia. He moved to the Island in 2009 and worked as a financier for 3 years. He is said to have been an adviser to the Department of Energy. “24 Chasa” learned that a person with that name worked from March to June 2009 at the Bulgarian Energy Holding, not at the ministry. However, he was not in a management position, but in an expert position. Rusev was never an employee of the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism, the current economic department said. It held the archives until 2015, when energy and tourism were separated.
His name appears in 2008 as a participant in a working group on business support schemes under a framework agreement with the bankrupt KTB, but not by the ministry.
According to LinkedIn, he had an intelligence business. The company engaged in the interception of communications signals.
Ambassador Raykov stated that the embassy was not informed about the detention of the Bulgarians. According to British practice, if they themselves do not wish the Bulgarian diplomatic services to be informed upon arrest, this does not happen.
All three will stand trial at the Old Bailey in January 2024. None have yet pleaded guilty. Espionage, where an agent is found guilty of aiding a foreign government, carries a maximum sentence of 14 years. Revealing an official secret can carry a life sentence.
2023-08-15 19:30:00
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