The Stockholm District Court sentenced the brothers Payam and Peyman Kia, accused of espionage for Russian intelligence with aggravating circumstances, to 9 years and 10 months in prison and to life imprisonment. It is reported by Reuters with reference to the statement of the court and lawyer Peiman Kia.
Peiman Kia, who was sentenced to life imprisonment, was a former member of the Swedish intelligence services. At the time of his arrest, he was head of security at the Swedish Food Bureau. He was additionally found guilty under the article on gross violation of the rules of access to classified information. Neither he nor his brother pleaded guilty. The hearings were held behind closed doors, information that could be a state secret was removed from the press statement.
The trial of the Kia brothers lasted more than a year, they were arrested in the fall of 2021. According to the court, Payama and Peyman Kia helped Russia and the GRU for ten years, passing on information "that could endanger the security of Sweden." The younger brother kept in touch with the GRU, passed on information, for which he received a reward.
In November, a married couple from Russia, Sergei Skvortsov and Elena Kulkova, who had lived in Sweden for many years and did not arouse any suspicion, was arrested in Stockholm. The Insider and Bellingcat found out that Skvortsov did business with a well-known Grushnik, who was once expelled from France for espionage, and a Belgian entrepreneur who was sanctioned for selling American military technology to China. Shortly before leaving for Sweden, the couple received an apartment on Sorge Street at the same address where Denis Sergeev, one of the Skripal poisoners, lived.