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Following a signal from the State Agency for National Security, the Special Prosecutor’s Office initiated a pre-trial procedure for a crime against the Republic of Bulgaria, for a foreign citizen who collects information that constitutes a state secret in order to provide it to a state or foreign organization. 104, para. 1 of the Penal Code). The official information was shared by the prosecutor’s office.
In the course of the investigation of the pre-trial proceedings it was established that in the period from 2017 to the present, another citizen of the Russian Federation has carried out intelligence activities, during which military information, incl. by the number of US servicemen stationed on the territory of Bulgaria during the exercise. The goal was to transmit information, an official and state secret, to Russian military intelligence in Moscow. In order to carry out his illegal activity, the Russian citizen had contacts with a Bulgarian citizen who had access to the relevant classified information. He was promised and given financial benefits.
It has been established that the Russian citizen enjoys diplomatic status. According to article 31, paragraph 1 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, despite the existence of reasons to present him as a defendant for a crime under art. 104 par. 1 of the Penal Code, the criminal process against the foreign citizen has been suspended by reason of art. 25 par. 1 point 3 of the PPC – “the aggressor is a person with immunity”.
In this regard, on December 17, 2020, Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev officially informed the Minister of Foreign Affairs about the findings of the investigation and the actions taken.
Sofia, Bulgaria
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