site.btaSix People Indicted for Espionage

November 18 (BTA) - The Sofia Military District Prosecution Office (SMDPO) has submitted to the Military District Court an indictment against a suspected spy ring led by former military intelligence officer Ivan Iliev. A trial is now to be scheduled, SMDPO said on Thursday.

Five Bulgarian military and Iliev's wife, who holds Bulgarian and Russian citizenship, were detained in March on suspicions of passing classified information to Russia. The group also comprises two current officers of the Military Information Service, a directorate chief at the Defence Ministry and a senior Parliament administrator.

The six are charged with organizing and/or leading a spy ring, collecting state secrets and divulging them to "a foreign country" (apparently, Russia), and placing themselves in the service of that country to work for it as spies. Three of the suspects divulged foreign classified information of military nature. Two members of the group are also charged with unlawful possession of ammunition.

According to the prosecution, Iliev spent years recruiting holders of key posts with unlimited access to classified information of Bulgaria, NATO and the EU.

The members of the group used their respective offices to gather classified, confidential and other essential information which was of interest to the foreign country's intelligence services. They passed the information to Iliev for payment, and then Iliev and his wife passed it on to an employee at the Russian Embassy in Sofia.

The evidence gathered in the pretrial proceedings is 140 volumes. Over 70 witnesses have been questioned. Five of the suspects are in remand, and the sixth one has been released on bail. DD/VE