The Sofia City Court has remanded in custody two Ukrainian former military men detained in Bulgaria and accused of espionage, the court announced, BTA reported.
The ruling was issued on Thursday, 23rd of April, is not final and can be appealed to a higher court.
According to the court panel in the case, there is sufficient evidence that the two men committed the act they are accused of. There is a risk that they will abscond and commit a crime, which is inferred from the gravity of the accusation.
The charges against the two are under Art. 104 of the Criminal Code – “Whoever releases or collects with the aim of releasing to a foreign state or a foreign organization information constituting a state secret shall be punished for espionage by imprisonment for 10 to 20 years, life imprisonment or life imprisonment without parole.
In March, the hearing began to amend the detention measures of the two Ukrainian citizens – a retired lieutenant, head of the Unmanned Systems Department, and a soldier from the airborne assault troops of the Ukrainian army. They were detained at the beginning of the year near a military facility in Bulgaria and accused of espionage.
Two former servicemen from Ukraine have been arrested and charged with espionage in our country. The two are aged 41 and 32 and were detained on January 12 near a military facility. Unofficially, the charge is for espionage in favor of their homeland, BNT reports.
Both defendants served in the army in Ukraine, but are retired. Since last They have been living in Spain for a year.
The 41-year-old man served in the Unmanned Military Systems Department, the 32-year-old was a paratrooper in the Ukrainian army. Neither the defendants’ lawyers nor the prosecutor’s office commented on the case due to classified information available on the investigation.
The case was postponed to verify the medical condition of the two defendants.
Source: Konstantin Kostov, BTA. Photo: BTA
