Five individuals who are believed to be involved in a Russian spy group operating in the UK have stood before a judge in a courtroom.
Bulgarian citizens Orlin Roussev, Bizer Dzhambazov, Katrin Ivanova, Ivan Stoyanov, and Vanya Gaberova supposedly planned to collect valuable information for an enemy.
It is claimed that they watched and gathered information about individuals and locations that Russia was interested in between August 2020 and February 2023.
The people who were accused were kept in jail. It is said that they were spying to help Russia do bad things like kidnapping people.
They did not say if they were guilty or not at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. They were in different prisons and talked to the court through a video connection.
All five people who were on trial did not say anything except when they confirmed their names and dates of birth.
The police arrested them in February for breaking the Official Secrets Act. These people are,
Orlin Roussev, who is 45 years old, lives in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.
Bizer Dzhambazov is a 41-year-old man from Harrow, which is in north-west London.
Katrin Ivanova, who is 31 years old, lives at the same address in Harrow.
Ivan Stoyanov is a 31-year-old man from Greenford, which is in west London.
Vanya Gaberova is a 29-year-old woman who lives in Churchway, a neighborhood in north-west London.
Prosecutor Kathryn Selby said that Mr. Roussev owned the main location in this country for the crime of spying.
He used to live in a guesthouse by the sea in Great Yarmouth, but it has closed down now.
MrRoussev is accused of planning and directing the group’s spying activities from the United Kingdom. They say that these actions happened in the UK and Europe.
MrStoyanov is an amateur mixed martial arts fighter who has competed in fights in the UK.
In Bulgaria, he took part in combat sambo fights, which are a type of martial arts that are well-liked in eastern Europe.
The five people on trial are being accused of working together with someone named Jan Marsalek on a secret plan. He is not accused or being held responsible in the case.
They say Mr Roussev got instructions from someone named Jan Marsalek who lives in another country.
MrMarsalek is a person from Austria who used to work as a high-ranking employee at Wirecard company. He is now wanted by the police in Germany because they believe he did some dishonest things.
People think he ran away to an airport near Vienna and then flew to Belarus on a private plane. He is supposedly in Russia now.
Deputy Chief Magistrate Tan Ikram said that the five people will go to court on October 13th.
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